LONDON - British employers increased pay for their staff by 4% on average in the three months to April, marking the biggest raise since 1992 but a long way behind surging inflation, a survey showed on Wednesday.
"The jump in the median pay award to 4% is a welcome rise following three successive months of pay awards being held at 3%, but when compared against inflation, the increase is not enough," said Sheila Attwood, pay and benefits editor at XpertHR, a human resources data provider.
April is a key month for pay deals. XpertHR said the settlements in its survey covered more than 830,000 workers across 255 employers.
The Bank of England is watching measures of pay growth closely as it tries to gauge the extent of inflation pressure in the economy, and whether it will become entrenched in expectations among British households.
Official data last week showed average weekly earnings in the three months to March were 7.0% higher than a year before, in part reflecting bumper bonuses for workers in the financial services and construction industries.
Excluding bonuses, the picture was broadly as the BoE expected with pay up 4.2%.
Britain's budget forecasters have said households face the biggest cost-of-living squeeze since records began in the 1950s.
Consumer prices rose in April by 9% in annual terms, the biggest increase since 1982.
