The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that the basic wage has fallen to minus 1 percent and is now “significantly declining in real terms” amid raging inflation.
The ONS added that regular wages, excluding bonuses, fell 1.8 percent in the three months to February, taking into account rising inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the sharpest drop since August 2013 to October. :
This comes at a time when Chris Galvin, co-founder of Galvin Restaurants, a collection of great restaurants, says he should raise salaries by up to 20 percent to keep staff.
He told BBC Radio 4 today: “The salary increase has gone through the roof. At the moment we are looking somewhere between 10 and even 20 percent.
To the question whether it is conditioned by the fact that the staff threatens to leave the job if it does not receive such a big increase, Mr. Galvin answered. “Yes, that’s right, to attract good talent. People we used to ask for ,000 30,000 are now looking for-40-48,000. And we have to look at the current interest rate, it’s a tough market.
– There are more vacancies than we have ever had. Hospitality has always been understaffed, we traditionally bring people from Europe, from abroad, but we have never had so many vacancies. I think we have probably reduced our workforce by 20%.
He added. “We are now seeing poaching on a fairly intensive basis. People come, offer jobs, introduce themselves as customers, but they will call our waiters, managers, rumors are circulating about finding employees’ smoking areas, and team penetration.
“The worst thing is that if they catch someone, they will encourage their partners. So, for the first time, we’re looking at gardening for hospitality, which is crazy. But it is difficult to lose someone when you have spent a lot of time training and developing someone, but they also encourage others to go.
He was speaking at a time when Chancellor Rishi Sunak was facing more economic pressure today as new job numbers showed the impact of rising inflation on British workers.
The Office for National Statistics said that basic wages are now “significantly declining in real terms” as the cost of living rises sharply.
In February alone, real regular wages fell 2.1 percent, the biggest drop since August 2013, according to the ONS.
Although wages rose by 4% in the quarter, but inflation significantly exceeded that, experts have warned that wages will lag further behind prices this year as inflation is expected to rise in the fall.
The latest data from the ONS labor market show that the number of wage workers in the UK has risen by 35,000 from February to March to 29.6 million.
But this was the smallest monthly increase since February last year, while vacancies also saw the smallest increase from February 2021 to April, by 50,200, to a record 1.29 million in January-March.
Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), says: “While strong bonuses continue to mitigate the impact of rising prices on people’s overall incomes, basic wages are now falling sharply in real terms.”
There were 86,000 fewer unemployed Britons in the quarter in February – 1.3 million, while the number of employed increased by 10,000 to 32.5 million.
However, there were signs of weakening staff demand, which means the smallest monthly increase since February last year.
Vacancies saw the smallest growth of 50,200 from February to April 2021, but recorded another record high of 1.29 million in January-March.
And because of the shrinking labor market, largely because older workers decided to retire early during the epidemic, he saw the economically inactive rise by 76,000 in the quarter to 8.9 million.
The figures come amid forecasts that inflation will peak at almost 9 percent this fall, with official data on Wednesday showing another sharp rise in CPI.
The latest data from the ONS indicate calm before the storm, before the energy threshold was raised in April, council tax bills, and an increase in national insurance premiums.
The UK Economic Forecasters (OBR) recently warned that households would experience the biggest drop in real incomes since 1956, when registrations began in 1956, with a decline of more than 2.2% this year.
Mr. Sunak said. “Today’s statistics show the continued strength of our labor market. In March, the number of salaried workers increased by one’s, and unemployment was lower than the epidemic level.”
However, the shadow secretary general of the Ministry of Finance, Pat McFadden, answered: “Today’s figures show that the Conservative election is pushing for real wages and people are in a worse position.
“At a time like this, Rishi Sunak could have opted for a lump sum tax on huge oil and gas profits to cut back on household energy costs by up to: 600.
“Instead, he decided to make Britain the only major economy to provide higher taxes for working people in the face of a cost-of-living crisis.”
It comes after yesterday the numbers assumed that Great Britain is going to stagflation.
Official data show that GDP grew by only 0.1% in February living expenses The crisis began to bite, worse than expected 0.3 percent, much lower than the strong 0.8 percent recorded in January.
The gloomy data came even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine The global situation threw chaos, oil and gas prices rose.
Experts warn that this will most likely be the beginning of a “significantly weaker long period of growth.” inflation It is forecasted to continue to grow, possibly in double digits.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who is battling anger over his family’s tax affairs, welcomed the fact that the economy remained in a positive territory.
But he warned that if a “strong” response to Vladimir Putin’s aggression was the right one, it would create “additional economic uncertainty.”
ONS warns that payment packages are now “falling sharply” amid rising inflation
