30.03.15
Public sector employees forecasting pay increases below 1%
Only one in five workers expect their pay to rise by 2% or more this year, with public sector expectations significantly lower than this on average, according to new figures.
A survey of 973 workers by Ipsos Mori for financial information firm Markit highlighted that workers across the country expect to see earnings rise by approximately 1.1%.
However, this is lower in the public sector with many expecting only a 0.8% increase, compared with 1.2% in the private sector.
Overall, 21% expected a hike of 2% or more, with 37% expecting a smaller rise, 35% a freeze and 7% believing their pay will be cut.
Chris Williamson, Markit chief economist, said: “The survey data indicate that there are clearly few signs of pay growth picking up in 2015. This is a major concern as the sustainability of the economic upturn is largely dependent on pay growth reviving.”
Earlier this month, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD’s) latest ‘focus on employee attitudes to pay and pensions’ report highlighted that in 2014 57% of private sector workers got a pay rise, compared to just 44% of public sector employees.
Based on a survey of 2,255 working adults, it revealed that among those who received a pay rise, the typical (median) size was 2% – the same as 2013.
But it was also revealed that two-fifths of workers did not get a pay rise, a phenomenon that is more prevalent in the public sector (49%) than in the private sector (38%). Among those whose pay did not increase in 2014, 38% reported that it has not changed since 2012.
Charles Cotton, CIPD adviser for performance and reward, said: “While we have started
to see pay awards begin to outpace inflation, not everyone got a salary increase in 2014 and not everyone expects to get a rise in 2015.”
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