Real wages grew in August, for the first time since the recession, as year-on-year advertised salary growth outpaced the rate of inflation, according to the latest UK Job Market Report from the website, Adzuna.
Average advertised salaries rose to £34,463 in August, up 1.9% from £33,873 in August 2013, compared to a CPI inflation rate of 1.5% over the same period. In real terms, advertised salaries climbed £149 over the last twelve months – the first growth in real terms since the financial crisis.
At the same time, the UK’s job creation continued to grow, with advertised vacancies rising 30% year-on-year from 698,862 in August 2013 to 905,297 in August 2014.
The ratio of jobseekers to vacancies declined from 1.99 in August 2013 to 1.06 in August 2014. On a monthly basis, the ratio fell 0.8 percentage points from 1.14.
And for the first time since the recession, advertised salaries rose year-on-year in every region of the UK, in August. Including London, which had its first annual wage growth in a year, with advertised salaries rising 0.6% from £42,086 in August 2013 to £42,321 in August 2014.
Manufacturing and Trade & Construction were the sectors with the highest salary growth over the past twelve months, with wages rising 11.6% and 9.2% year-on-year in August respectively.
Commenting on the performance of the sectors, Adzuna’s co-founder Andrew Hunter explains: “The resurgence of manufacturing and construction industry wages is a true sign that country’s economic growth is well and truly back on track. If we take construction as a bellwether industry for the British economy.”
