Quarterly PAYstats Pay and Labour Market Statistics, July 2021

Latest pay and labour market statistics July 2021:

• The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) rose by 2.4% in the 12 months to June 2021, up from 2.1% in the 12 months to May.
• The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 2.5% in the 12 months to June 2021, up from 2.1% to May.
• The number of payroll employees showed another monthly increase, up 356,000 in June 2021 to 28.9 million.
• Following a period of employment growth and low unemployment, since the start of the pandemic, the employment rate has generally decreased, and the unemployment rate increased. However, since the end of 2020 both have shown signs of recovery.
• With the relaxation of many coronavirus restrictions, total hours worked increased on the quarter, however it is still below pre-pandemic levels. The redundancy rate decreased on the quarter and has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
• There were 862,000 job vacancies in April to June 2021 – 77,500 above its pre-pandemic level in January to March 2020.
• Growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 7.3% and regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 6.6% among employees for March to May 2021. However, annual growth in average employee pay is being affected by temporary factors that have inflated the increase in the headline growth rate.