Key economic indicators
Earnings and pay
Whole economy Manufacturing Services Private sector Public sector LRD pay deals*January 2005 (r) 4.0% 2.8% 4.2% 3.9% 4.8% 3.4%
February 5.6% 3.6% 6.3% 5.9% 4.6% 3.4%
March 4.0% 3.9% 4.3% 4.0% 4.2% 3.4%
April 4.2% 3.0% 4.5% 4.0% 4.9% 3.5%
May 4.1% 1.9% 4.7% 3.3% 7.7% 3.5%
June 4.0% 2.9% 4.3% 3.9% 4.3% 3.5%
July 4.5% 3.4% 4.9% 4.6% 4.4% 3.5%
August 4.0% 4.3% 4.0% 4.0% 4.3% 3.2%
September 3.8% 4.6% 3.5% 3.7% 4.0% 3.1%
October 3.1% 4.4% 2.8% 2.9% 4.0% 3.0%
November (r) 3.4% 4.4% 3.3% 3.1% 4.4% 3.1%
December (r) 4.1% 4.3% 3.8% 3.9% 4.7% 3.3%
January 2006 (p) 3.0% 5.0% 2.7% 2.8% 4.1% 3.2%
Headline rate for January** 3.5% 4.6% 3.3% 3.3% 4.4%
All columns except "LRD pay deals" show annual rises in average weekly earnings in Great Britain, seasonally adjusted, as monitored by National Statistics.
* The midpoint of pay settlements for the latest three months as monitored on the Labour Research Department's Payline database.
** The average of the earnings increase figures for the latest three months compared with a year earlier.
(r) revised (p) provisionalRetail prices
Retail prices index* Annual increase in RPI Annual increase in consumer prices indexJanuary 2005 188.9 3.2% 1.6%
February 189.6 3.2% 1.6%
March 190.5 3.2% 1.9%
April 191.6 3.2% 1.9%
May 192.0 2.9% 1.9%
June 192.2 2.9% 2.0%
July 192.2 2.9% 2.3%
August 192.6 2.8% 2.4%
September 193.1 2.7% 2.5%
October 193.3 2.5% 2.3%
November 193.6 2.4% 2.1%
December 194.1 2.2% 1.9%
January 2006 193.4 2.4% 1.9%
February 194.2 2.4% 2.0%
* January 1987 = 100
Source: National Statistics
Full-time average weekly earnings by occupation
All workers £531.10
All male £584.40
All female £447.90
Managers £798.90
Professionals £726.70
Associate professionals* £562.90
Admin & secretarial £361.90
Skilled/craft £443.90
Services** £308.50
Sales £291.70
Operatives £406.30
Other manual jobs*** £322.60
* Associate professionals include technicians, nurses, police, firefighters, media/PR workers, train drivers, legal and finance workers and sales reps.
** Services means personal service occupations such as care workers, travel assistants, hairdressers, caretakers.
*** Other manual jobs refers to “elementary” occupations including farm workers, labourers, dockers, postal workers, porters, waiters, cleaners.
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2005 (uprated)