Our monthly review of pay trends reveals that basic pay awards are running at a median of just 1% in the three months to the end of July 2009. As more deals are added to the IRS pay databank, the contrast between pay awards settled in 2009 and those in 2008 becomes more striking, with pay awards dipping sharply in January 2009 and pay freezes starting to proliferate. We look back at what happened in the crucial April bargaining round, when the median basic pay deal in the private sector was a pay
freeze.
This issue's analysis of pay trends in the retail sector during the year to the end of May 2009 illustrates the contrast between 2008 and 2009 perfectly. Although the median in the sector stands at a relatively healthy 3% in the year to the end of May 2009, the bargaining year is split into two very different halves. From June to November 2008, the median was worth 3.75%. But from December 2008 to May 2009, it plunged to just 1%, our research shows. Despite a turbulent year for retailers however, with
a
number of high street names going under, many have continued to make healthy bonus payments to staff.
Also in this issue we take a look at the final report from the Women and Work Commission, which expresses a fair degree of disappointment at the Government's efforts to close the gender pay gap.
Our pay reports section is devoted to the rail sector, with reports on the latest deals at Virgin Trains West Coast, First ScotRail and the Southeastern
Railway.
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