Average Weekly Earnings In Great Britain: March 2023

14th March 2023

Main points for November 2022 to January 2023
Growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 5.7% and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 6.5% among employees in November 2022 to January 2023.

Total pay growth remained smaller than regular pay growth in November 2022 to January 2023 because of bonuses. In particular for December, where we saw a higher than normal bonus paid out in 2021, compared with the December 2022 bonus, which remained at a similar level to that of previous months, the main contributor to this was the finance and business services sector.

Growth in total and regular pay fell in real terms (adjusted for inflation) on the year in November 2022 to January 2023, by 3.2% for total pay and 2.4% for regular pay; a larger fall on the year for real total pay was last seen in February to April 2009 when it fell by 4.5%, but it still remains among the largest falls in growth since comparable records began in 2001.

Average regular pay growth for the private sector was 7.0% in November 2022 to January 2023, and 4.8% for the public sector; a larger growth outside of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period for the public sector was last seen in December 2005 to February 2006 (5.2%).

The finance and business services sector saw the largest regular growth rate at 7.7%, followed by the construction sector at 5.8%.

Read the full ONS report HERE