Inflation in the United Kingdom rose to 11.1% in October, and analysts warn that it may not have yet reached its high due to surging power, gas, and food prices.
The grim result has increased from 10.1% in September and is substantially worse than the consensus projection of 10.7%.
In the year leading up to September, wages increased at a record rate, but were still surpassed by the rising cost of living.
According to the Office of National Statistics, regular weekly salary increased by an average of 5.7%, the highest increase outside of the epidemic since records began in 2001.
However, with inflation at a 40-year high, the majority of families continue to feel the pressure.
While private sector compensation increased by 6.6%, public sector pay, which includes physicians, nurses, and civil workers, increased by only 2.2%.
Real wages, which account for inflation, were 2.7% lower than a year earlier.
As of September of this year, real pay, which takes inflation into account, is down 2.7% compared to September of previous year.
Nurses (file photo) and other public sector employees are threatening to go on strike over inadequate salary increases.
The unemployment rate increased from 3.5% to 3.9%, or 1.28 million people.
The number of long-term sick was 2.5 million, an increase of more than 465,000 since before the pandemic.
It comes at a time when nurses, teachers, and other public sector employees are all preparing to strike over inadequate salary increases.
Next year, nurses will receive an average raise of 4.75 percent, but they argue that they should earn more because their compensation has not kept pace with the rising cost of living for several years.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended below-inflation pay settlements for NHS employees, arguing that the unions’ demands were “unaffordable.”
In an effort to maintain a lid on inflation, he also asked private corporations to rein in executive pay, which often reaches millions of pounds for top chief executives.
He stated to GB News, ‘Everyone will be asked to give more. However, we will ask those who have more to donate considerably more.’
Yesterday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (seen at a G20 leaders’ lunch in Bali, Indonesia) defended below-inflation wage accords for NHS personnel.
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has stated that combating inflation is his “top priority.”
I understand that people’s hard-earned money isn’t going as far as it should, said Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
As he prepares to release his Autumn Statement tomorrow (THU), outlining plans to fix the hole in the public finances, he added: ‘Tackling inflation is my top priority, and it will inform the difficult decisions on tax and expenditure that we will make on Thursday.
Restoring stability and reducing debt is our sole option for controlling inflation and containing interest rate increases.
Mr. Hunt, however, attributed the skyrocketing increase in the cost of living to the situation in Ukraine, which has pushed up the prices of oil and other commodities such as grain.
He stated, “Putin’s illegitimate war has caused inflation to rise, a hidden and insidious tax that eats away at wages and savings.”