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Total earnings growth, including bonuses, rose
by an annual 3.1% in the three months to April, official data
showed, slowing from 3.3% in March but beating the median
forecast of 3.0% in a Reuters poll of economists, the Office for
National Statistics said.
Excluding bonuses, which smooths out some volatility, pay growth
picked up to 3.4% from 3.3%, beating all forecasts and boosted
by a 3.8% annual jump in pay for April alone, the largest
single-month rise since May 2008.
"Overall, the labour market continues to be strong," ONS
statistician Matt Hughes said.
Britain's labour market has performed robustly since Britain
voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, in contrast to
other parts of the economy which have suffered from uncertainty
about the timing and terms on which Britain will leave.
Official figures on Monday showed the economy shrank by 0.4% in
April, its biggest monthly drop since 2016.
The unemployment rate remained at 3.8% as expected, its
joint-lowest since the three months to January 1975, and the
absolute number of people out of work dropped by 34,000 to 1.304
million.
The number of people in employment rose by 32,000 to 32.746
million, the smallest increase since the three months to August
last year, as employers increasingly say it is hard to find
staff.
The BoE last month said it expected wage growth of 3% at the end
of this year.
But it sees Britain's hiring spree as a reflection of how many
firms have opted to take on workers rather than commit to
longer-term investments.
(Reporting by David Milliken and Jonathan Cable)
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