Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of year-on-year trends in the level of average weekly earnings in each year since 2010.
Statistics on average weekly earnings growth are published by the independent Office for National Statistics.
In August 2010, real (total) pay fell by 0.5%. In August 2019 the real (total) pay growth was 1.9% - an increase in the rate of real wage growth of 2.4 percentage points.
The highest real (total) pay growth, between Aug 10 – Aug 19, was in Aug 15 (2.6%).
Under the Triple Lock the basic State Pension and the full rate of the new State Pension will be raised the highest of: the rise in prices, the rise in earnings or 2.5%. The relevant measure for earnings is the year-on-year change in Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) from May to July published by the ONS in October, standing at 3.9%
Date | Growth in nominal average weekly total pay |
August 2010 | 1.8 % |
August 2011 | 2.6% |
August 2012 | 1.6% |
August 2013 | 0.7% |
August 2014 | 0.6% |
August 2015 | 3.0% |
August 2016 | 2.4% |
August 2017 | 2.3% |
August 2018 | 2.8% |
August 2019 | 3.8% |