Bouncing back: Median basic pay stabilises after worst year in a decade
Median basic pay increases between May and July 2021 were worth 2 per cent, unchanged on the figure seen in each of the three previous rolling quarters.
However, this is a welcome stabilisation on pay after the median pay award fell to nil in the same period a year ago, according to data from legal compliance platform XpertHR, shared with Morning Wire this afternoon.
In the 12 months to the end of July 2021, the median pay award in the public sector sits at 2 per cent, with the interquartile range between 1.2 per cent and 3 per cent.
Over the same period, pay awards in the private sector are worth 1.5 per cent at the median, with the middle half of awards falling between nil and 2 per cent.
The whole economy median over the year to the end of July 2021 is also 1.5 per cent. That said, the value of pay awards in the public sector has fallen to 2 per cent in recent months, having been static at 2.5 per cent for the past couple of years.
Notably, in the services sector, which includes both public and private-sector services, the median in the three months to the end of July 2021 is 2 per cent, with almost two thirds of pay awards worth this much or more.
This is the highest median pay award in the sector recorded by the company since last November, though the sector also saw the only pay freezes recorded in this latest data. The interquartile range extends from 1.5 per cent to 2.7 per cent.
“2020 marked the worst year for pay awards since 2010, so it is welcoming to have seen pay deals rising and now stabilising,” commented Sheila Attwood, XpertHRpay and benefits editor.
Attwood told Morning Wire she thinks it is likely that awards will remain at this level as employers are still regrouping and looking to strike the balance between recruitment and wider reward package costs.
“Despite movements to end restrictions and a move towards a ‘return to normal’, best reflected in the two percentage points increase in private sector median pay awards over the past year, uncertainty still remains,” she concluded.