FX.co ★ UK Wage Growth Steady at 3.4%

In the UK, regular pay excluding bonuses rose 3.4% year-on-year to GBP 699 per week in the three months to May 2026. This matched both the pace recorded in the previous two three-month periods and market expectations, but still represented the weakest annual increase since the three months to October 2020.

In the private sector, wage growth edged down to 2.9% from 3.0%, the slowest rate since the three months to October 2020. By contrast, public sector pay growth accelerated to 5.5% from 5.1%, the fastest increase since the three months to January.

Across industries, wages increased in wholesale, retail, hotels and restaurants (3.6%), manufacturing (2.8%), services (3.7%), and finance and business services (2.3%), but fell in construction (-0.2%).

After adjusting for inflation, real regular pay grew 0.3%, up from 0.1% in each of the previous two periods and the strongest real increase since the three months to January.