Salaries growth in the United Kingdom was held in the three months until walking, employers, employers prevented hiring before a strong increase in payroll taxes and minimum wages.
The annual growth in average weekly wages was 5.6%, excluding premiums within three months until March, the Office of National Statistics announced on Tuesday. The figure was in line with analysts' expectations and down 5.9% in three months to February.
Distinct figures have shown that payroll employment has dropped 47,000 or 0.2% between February and March, leaving the number of employees of the period from January to March flat compared to a year earlier. Preliminary figures for April showed a new drop of 33,000 or 0.1% over the month, as employers have sought to manage the increase in labor costs.
Victoria Clarke, British chief economist at Santander, said before the data statement that the figures were likely to support the opinion of the Bank of England “that a progressive relaxation path is the right one.”
The central bank reduced interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25% last week, but its monetary policy committee was divided in three ways, two members promoting a greater drop of 0.5 percentage points and 2 other votes to leave the interest rates unchanged.
Two MPC members warned Monday to rush again to reduce interest rates, stressing the need to see more evidence than inflationary pressures take turns.
Clare Lombardelli, a vice-governor of the BOE, said that wage growth was “still too high” to be consistent with the BOE inflation objective, even if it seemed likely to fall at the end of the year.
