United Kingdom: Wage Growth Tops Estimates.

Regular pay in the UK, excluding bonuses, rose 3.6% year-on-year to GBP 692 per week in the three months to February 2026, slowing from a 3.8% growth in the previous period but exceeding market expectations of 3.5%. It was the weakest increase since the three months to November 2020, with private sector wages slowing slightly to 3.2% from 3.3%, the lowest since the three months to October 2020. Also, public sector pay slowed to 5.2% from the prior 6.0%, the softest since early 2025. By industry, annual gains were seen in wholesale, retail, hotels, and restaurants (4.2%), manufacturing (3.5%), services (3.7%), construction (0.5%), and finance and business services (2.4%). Adjusted for inflation, real wages rose 0.2% in the three months to February, easing from a 0.2% gain in the previous period, the lowest since mid-2023.