LONDON (Reuters) – Wage growth in Britain remained much faster than in the United States and the euro zone at the end of 2023, according to data published by jobs website Indeed that underscores the Bank of England’s worries about inflation pressures in the economy.
Wages rose by 6.6% in the last three months of the year compared with the same period of 2022, slowing only slightly from 6.7% in the three months of the end of November and a peak of 7.4% in mid-2023, the Indeed figures showed on Wednesday.
By comparison, pay growth stood at 3.8% in both the United States and the euro zone in the October-to-December period.
The BoE has raised its benchmark Bank Rate to its highest since 2008 at 5.25% in an attempt to snuff out inflation pressures still in the economy and has said it expects to keep borrowing costs high “for an extended period”.
On Tuesday, data from Britain’s official statistics office showed a cooling in the pace of growth in basic pay to 6.6% in the three months to Nov. 30 and many economists have said they expected wage increases to continue to slow in the months ahead.
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by David Milliken)
