Pay growth in the private sector slowed to 2.8 per cent in the three months to June, the weakest rate in almost six years, while pay in the public sector rose by 6.1 per cent, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics published on Tuesday.
The annual rate of private sector pay growth was down from 2.9 per cent in the previous quarter and is the lowest since the three months to October 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the ONS said.
Public sector pay growth rose from 5.5 per cent in the previous three months. The ONS said the increase was driven by NHS staff receiving their pay award this year compared with 2025.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 per cent. Vacancies fell by around 4,000 over the quarter to 707,000 in the three months to June, down from a peak of nearly 1.3 million in 2022 and the lowest level outside the pandemic since 2014, as job openings have continued to fall across the economy.
Single-month estimates for June alone, which the ONS says should be treated with caution, showed the unemployment rate climbed to 5.4 per cent from 4.6 per cent in May. The reliability of the ONS’s labour market data has weakened in recent years because of a decline in responses to the survey that underpins it.
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