Average Weekly Earnings In Great Britain - October 2023

17th October 2023

Annual growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 7.8% in June to August 2023, similar to recent periods and one of the highest regular annual growth rates since comparable records began in 2001.

Annual growth in employees' average total pay (including bonuses) was 8.1% in June to August 2023; this total growth rate is affected by the NHS and civil service one-off payments made in June, July and August 2023.

Annual growth in real terms (adjusted for inflation using Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH)) for total pay rose on the year by 1.3% in June to August 2023, and for regular pay rose on the year by 1.1%.

Annual average regular pay growth for the public sector was 6.8% in June to August 2023 and is the highest regular annual growth rate since comparable records began in 2001; for the private sector this was 8.0% and among the largest annual growth rates seen outside of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period.

The finance and business services sector saw the largest annual regular growth rate at 9.6%, followed by the manufacturing sector at 8.0%; this is one of the highest annual regular growth rates for the manufacturing sector since comparable records began in 2001.

The estimates in this bulletin come from a survey of businesses. It is not possible to survey every business each month, so these statistics are estimates based on a sample, not precise figures.

Analysis of average weekly earnings
Figure 1: Average weekly earnings for total pay were £661 and for regular pay were £619 in August 2023, showing a steady increase over time (except for early on in the coronavirus pandemic)

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