Manufacturing pay deals stay low

Feb 18 2010 by Iain Laing, The Journal

PAY deals in manufacturing firms remain at historically low levels, with no sign of wage inflationary pressures building up, according to a new report.

A study of 250 settlements by the Engineering Employers Federation showed average rises of 0.8% in the three months to January.

Just over half of manufacturing firms froze pay, compared with two-thirds in the previous period, while one in five deferred increases.

Alan Hall, EEF region director, said: “Although the level of manufacturing pay settlements has risen slightly, it is still at an historically low level.

“Given these latest figures cover the key settlement month of January they show there are no signs of wage inflationary pressures building up in the manufacturing sector.”

The number of companies deferring their pay settlement also fell to just over 20% of all reported settlements.