Builders still top of the UK pay league

Britainís construction industry tops the pay league for the fifth year running, according to findings released today (26 November 2004) by IRS Employment Review, published by LexisNexis. Although the median basic pay award in the sector has slipped by 0.2 percentage points, to 3.5%, it remains higher than in any other sector.

The median annual basic pay settlement across the private sector as a whole stood at 3% in the year to 31 August 2004, unchanged from the year to August 2003 found pay experts, IRS. However, in the majority of sectors, the median recorded for the 2003/04 pay round is at an equivalent or higher rate to that in 2002/03.

There is still a substantial difference between the median pay awards in each sector. The transport and communication sector comes a close second, enjoying median pay awards of 3.25% while employers in the publishing and broadcasting sector made a median pay award of just 2.5%.

The results are based on approximately 1,000 basic pay settlements across the 15 industrial sectors. They are published in the new issue of IRS Employment Review (812), also available on its website, www.irsemploymentreview.com.

Other findings include:

-Nine sectors matched the private sector as a whole, with increases of 3% in the year to August 2004: chemicals; electricity, gas and water; engineering and metals; food, drink and tobacco; general manufacturing; general services; hotels and catering; retail and wholesale, and the voluntary sector.

-The publishing and broadcasting sector is now at the bottom of the table with a median pay increase of just 2.5%, one percentage point below that recorded in the construction sector. Textiles moved away from the bottom spot, helped by a 0.3 percentage point increase in the median recorded for the sector this year.

-The median pay increase has risen in the following sectors: engineering and metals, finance, general manufacturing, paper and printing, retail and wholesale, textiles, and transport and communication.

-Engineering and metals and general manufacturing saw the greatest increase, with pay deals rising by half a percentage point to 3% in both industries.

-The same pay increase has been recorded for the past two years for the chemicals; electricity, gas and water; food, drink and tobacco; general services; hotels and catering, and voluntary sectors.


IRS Employment Review pay and benefits editor, Sheila Attwood said:

ìOnly two industry sectors offered lower median pay awards in 2003/2004 than in the previous year - construction and publishing and broadcasting. However, while construction remains at the top of the pay league, this resulted in publishing and broadcasting falling to the bottom of our pay table.

The greatest increase was recorded in engineering and metals and general manufacturing, where pay deals rose by half a percentage point to 3% in both industries. For the majority of private sector employees, itís business as usual with pay rises at 3%. However, with headline inflation now standing at 3.3%, employees will be looking for future pay rises to exceed the cost of living increases.î