UK regular wages grow by stronger than expected 6.2%

British regular pay grew at the slowest pace in more than a year at the end of last year, according to official data published on Tuesday but the slowdown was less strong than most analysts had expected.

The Bank of England is watching pay growth closely as it tries to gauge how much inflation pressure remains in the economy and whether it can start to consider cutting interest rates from their highest level since 2008.

Wages excluding bonuses grew by 6.2% in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 6.0% annual rise in the Office for National Statistics' measure of regular earnings in the October-to-December period.

That latest figure represented a deceleration from growth of 6.7% in the three months to November.

Sterling strengthened against the U.S. dollar immediately after the labour market data was published.