Total pay, including bonuses, increased by 3% for UK employees between July-September 2014 and July-September 2015, according to research by the Office for National Statistics.
Its UK labour market statistical bulletin, November 2015 found that regular pay, excluding bonuses, increased by 2.5%. This is lower than the rate of growth between June-August 2014 and June-August 2015, which came in at 2.8%.
In real terms, total pay grew by 2.9% and regular pay by 2.5% between July-September 2014 and July-September 2015.
In September 2015, average regular pay was £463 a week before tax and other reductions, while total pay was £492 a week.
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Unemployment now stands at its lowest level since before the ravages of the financial crisis, signalling an economy that has already done a great deal of healing.
“This picture looks even brighter when you consider we are now also seeing a significant rise in wages, which should be further boosted by the introduction of the national living wage next April.”
