Average weekly earnings, including bonuses, rose by 1.7% in the three months from December 2013 to February 2014, according to the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Its Labour market statistics, April 2014 report also found that average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, rose by 1.4% during the same three months.
In cash terms, average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, were £449, before taxes and other deductions from gross pay. This is up from £443 a year earlier.
Average weekly earnings, including bonus payments, were £479, before taxes and other deductions from gross pay. This is up from £470 a year earlier.
Since 2000, average total pay for employees has increased from £311 a week to £479, an increase of 54%.
In February 2014, average pay, including bonus payments, in the private sector stood at £474 a week, £20 lower than in the public sector where this totalled £494 a week.
Nigel Meager, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, said: “Statistics from the ONS are, as expected, extremely positive.
“Coming as they do after more than six months of improving data, they confirm that the labour market recovery from the recession is now firmly entrenched.
“The much-lamented squeeze on real wages seems to be easing, with the gap between earnings growth and price inflation having almost closed, although it will take many months or years of earnings growth for the lost ground to be recovered.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of jobs search engine Adzuna, added: “This is the moment British workers have been waiting for. The balance of wages and inflation has tipped in favour of workers for the first time since April 2010.”
