When the effect of rising prices is taken into account, pay including bonuses fell 2.5 percent in the latest quarter compared to a year earlier. Regular wages fell by 3%, the Office for National Statistics said. Wages rose in cash terms, but were dampened by rising costs for gas, electricity, fuel, food and other goods that have pushed the headline inflation rate to 9.4 percent. Private sector workers saw their wages increase by 5.9% before inflation – more than three times faster than their public sector counterparts who received a 1.8% increase. The figures set the government on course for further clashes with civil servants, including nurses, doctors, lawyers and teachers who have seen the value of their incomes collapse this year, adding to the pain of a decade of falling real wages. Bonuses remained strong in June, the ONS said, with highly paid City workers seeing the biggest growth. ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said: “The number of people in work rose in the second quarter of 2022, while the nominal rates of unemployment and those neither working nor looking for work were little changed. “Meanwhile, the total number of hours worked each week appears to have stabilized very slightly below pre-pandemic levels. “The real value of pay continues to decline. Excluding bonuses, it is still falling faster than at any time since comparable records began in 2001.” According to the Resolution Foundation think tank, the fall in wages was the biggest since 1977, when the Queen celebrated her Silver Jubilee. Nye Cominetti, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The scale of this wage pain is even deeper than the official figures suggest, as estimates of wage growth continue to be artificially boosted by the effects of the furlough regime last year. “This squeeze came despite strong wage growth and a buoyant labor market, with wage settlements tightening slightly and almost a million people moving jobs over the past three months. While wages fell, the number of UK wage earners rose slightly, rising by 73,000 between June and July to 29.7 million, the ONS said. The number of job vacancies in May to July 2022 fell by 19.80 to 1,274,40 – the first quarterly decline since summer 2020. Despite the unprecedented fall in real incomes, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi claimed the figures showed the UK labor market was in a “strong position”. He added: “This highlights the resilience of the UK economy and the fantastic businesses that are creating new jobs across the country. “While there are no easy solutions to the pressures people are facing, we are providing help where we can.” The government is under increasing pressure to announce more support for households facing average energy bills of £3,600 by October, when inflation is expected to hit 13.3%. Boris Johnson said no further measures would be announced until his successor as prime minister is announced next month. Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney MP said: “Families are being hit by a cost of living disaster and yet the Government is nowhere to be found. “This zombie government has no plan and is failing our country. People can’t wait any longer for the Conservatives to play the horror show leadership contest.”
