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Briefings Home Briefings Home | Responses | PFI Index | Policy Guide
BARGAINING PROSPECTS BRIEF - MARCH 2002
 

 

About this brief

As more pay negotiations are done locally in Scotland it can be useful to have regional figures to supplement national UNISON briefings.

In this brief you will find the latest:

  • claimant/ILO unemployment figures
  • Average Earnings
  • Inflation
  • Inflation and Earnings Forecasts
  • Latest pay settlement trends in the Public Sector
  • Equal Pay issues
  • New Earnings Survey 2001 Labour market data broken down by region, gender and occupation.

Latest Claimant / ILO Unemployment Figures

The latest Claimant/ILO Unemployment figures released Wednesday 13 February 2002 are:

Claimant Unemployment UK Claimant Unemployment Scotland

(Seasonally Adjusted) (Seasonally Adjusted)

 

000s

% of workforce

000s

% of workforce

January

951.3

3.2

103.6

4.1

December

961.9

3.2

104.7

4.2

November

9.59.1

3.2

106.2

4.2

ILO Unemployment UK ILO Unemployment Scotland

(Seasonally Adjusted) (Seasonally Adjusted)

 

000s

% of workforce

000s

% of workforce

Oct - Dec

1,546

5.2

173

6.8

Sept-Nov

1,522

5.1

170

6.7

Aug-Oct

1,520

5.1

170

6.7

The drop in UK and Scottish claimant count adds evidence to suggest that interest rates have reached their lowest point.

Average Earnings UK and Scotland

 

Average gross weekly pay (£)

Average gross annual pay (£)

% increase

April 2000-April 01

 

M

F

All

   

Great Britain

490.5

366.8

444.3

23,607

5.9

Scotland

448.5

342.3

404.5

21,110

5.6

Inflation

The latest RETAIL PRICES INDEX (RPI) figures released 12 Feb 2002 are: (1987=100)

 

Month by month

Movement of index

Headline Rate

% change/yr

Underlying rate

(RPIX)

Jan

173.3

1.3

2.6

Dec

173.4

0.7

1.9

Nov

173.6

0.9

1.8

Oct

174.3

1.6

2.3

Sep

174.6

1.7

2.3

Aug

174.0

2.1

2.6

July

173.3

1.6

2.2

Headline rate = percentage change over one year

Underlying rate (RPIX) = annual percentage increase in RPI, excluding mortgage interest

payments. The next release date for the RPI is 19 March 2002.

Inflation Forecasts:

External forecasters expect inflation to stay close to the Government's target of 2.5%. (HM Treasury)

Earnings Forecasts

Employment prospects weakened at the start of 2002 according to the latest survey from the Manpower employment agency. Greatest pressures are on the manufacturing sectors. Weakest sectors are leisure, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, retail, electronics and engineering. The demand for labour is strongest in healthcare (both public and private) the building industry, utilities and finance.

Latest figures from the LRD Payline data base show that the midpoint for pay rises in the Oct – Dec period was 3.5% in services as against 3.2 % in industry. This is partly due to the situation in the public sector where recruitment pressures are still strong, and show signs of remaining so.

Latest Pay Settlement Trends in the Public Sector

Incomes Data Services (IDS) notes a growing trend for long term pay deals in the public sector in Scotland. IDS cites the recent pay deals for school teachers, civil servants, and in local government as evidence of this.

These long term pay agreements have been encouraged by the Chancellor, and give opportunities to restructure pay and a general uplift to raise salaries to more competitive levels.

Pay settlements for many groups in the public sector centred around 3.7%, the level recommended by review bodies. For civil servants and agencies it tends to be higher at 4.5%. A significant minority

 

of pay bill increases were above five per cent. In the not-for-profit sector settlements were lower, averaging around 3¼ per cent with a significant number in the housing and care sectors below three per cent.

Pay increases for many staff have frequently been much higher than the headline percentage settlement. Many deals have had underpinning increases to help the lower paid and others have raised the salaries of specific groups to aid recruitment and retention.

Public sector employees in a range of occupations are set to receive substantial pay increases in 2002 as employers seek to address recruitment and retention issues, establish more competitive salary levels and deal with discriminatory pay systems.

Recruitment and Retention in the Public Sector

IDS found recruitment and retention difficulties across local government in the UK particularly for professional posts such as social workers, and IT staff.

In Scotland councils reported recruitment and retention problems among key staff groups particularly social work. Problems were also encountered in recruiting and retaining IT staff, Legal staff, and accountants.

Amongst lower paid staff Aberdeenshire experienced problems recruiting and retaining cleaners, East Lothian with residential/cleaning staff, Falkirk with domestic and catering, Midlothian with cooks and cleaners, and Shetland with care staff.

Across the UK pay remains the main factor behind recruitment and retention

problems, and the difficulties of competing with private sector. In some areas councils find it difficult to compete with neighbouring local authorities on pay rates.

In Scotland, Falkirk Council is considering implementing supplements for social worker posts as "golden hello's". At the moment Shetland Islands Council is the only Scottish council to do this. North Lanarkshire Council is considering enhanced placing on the pay scale for accountants, IT staff, and social workers, however each case will be considered on merit.

Work life balance strategies, and improved childcare support are becoming an important part of councils' employment strategies to attract staff, and many local authorities are looking to broaden initiatives in this area.

Equal Pay

Gender pay difference GB & Scotland, full time employees on adult rates; hourly earnings excluding overtime, April 2001:

 

2000

2001

Great Britain

81.1%

81.6%

Scotland

80.6%

83.2%

The ONS results above show a narrowing of the gender pay gap, more pronounced in Scotland. It should be noted that average hourly pay excludes overtime, as overtime can distort the picture with men working relatively more overtime than their female counterparts. We should be careful on this point, as men's jobs tend to offer more opportunities for overtime than women's.

Close the Gap

In 2001 the Scottish Executive, with partners organisations: the EOC, STUC, CBI Scotland, and the Scottish Low Pay Unit, launched the Close the Gap initiative. It aims to:

  • Raise awareness of the pay gap;
  • Promote good employment practice; and
  • Encourage activity to reduce the pay gap.

Employers and employees are invited to get involved in the campaign by:

  • Businesses considering how they can benefit by closing the gap;
  • Employees to ask their unions reps about equal pay;
  • Employees putting equal pay on the agenda with their unions; and
  • Finding out about rights as an employee and responsibilities as an employer.

For more Equal Pay information see UNISON's P&I Team Briefings: No 26 Equal Pay Policy

and No. 24 Equal Pay Awareness or the EOC website http://www.eoc.org.uk

New Earnings Survey 2001

Section E of the New Earnings Survey 2001 (published at the end of February 2002) consists of regional labour market data. Data showing the increase in average weekly pay April 2000-2001 reveal interesting statistics:

Increase in average weekly pay

Scotland

5.6%

Aberdeenshire

-0.7%

Dumfries & Galloway

10.9%

Stirling

15.3%

West Dunbartonshire

-1.2%

The statistics appear to confirm views of declining local economies of rural Aberdeenshire and West Dunbartonshire, and shows how average salaries are increasing in the more prosperous areas of Stirling.

Average earnings , full time manual males on adult rates

Scotland

Great Britain

2000

2001

2000

2001

All service industries

Average weekly earnings

£315.0

£326.3

£322.1

£337.5

Average hourly earnings

£7.22

£7.42

£7.27

£7.61

Electricity, gas and water supply

Average weekly earnings

£397.5

£413.5

£453.3

£464.1

Average hourly earnings

£9.85

£10.02

£10.93

£10.96

Transport, storage & communications

Average weekly earnings

£350.5

£365.0

£386.7

£397.8

Average hourly earnings

£7.36

£7.67

£7.75

£8.25

Public administration & defence

Average weekly earnings

£321.5

£342.6

£311.0

£329.8

Average hourly earnings

£7.54

£8.01

£7.56

£8.02

Health & Social work

Average weekly earnings

£294.9

£300.3

£283.6

£295.3

Average hourly earnings

£7.88

£7.14

£6.91

£6.96

Other community, social & personal activities

Average weekly earnings

£289.4

£297.6

£301.2

£315.9

Average hourly earnings

£6.71

£6.78

£6.95

£7.29

 

Full Time Non Manual Males on Adult Rates

Scotland

Great Britain

2000

2001

2000

2001

All Service Industries

Average weekly earnings

£474.0

£515.8

£528.0

£579.3

Average hourly earnings

£12.34

£13.21

£13.69

£14.99

Transport, storage and communication

Average weekly earnings

£327.1

£492.8

£359.5

£574.3

Average hourly earnings

£8.32

£11.87

£9.19

£13.85

Financial Intermediation

Average weekly earnings

£521.8

£559.4

£665.3

£764.0

Average hourly earnings

£14.46

N/A

£18.40

£21.05

Public Administration & defence

Average weekly earnings

£451.6

£477.7

£468.7

£493.7

Average hourly earnings

£11.81

£12.77

£12.28

£12.92

 

 

 

Full time males on adult rates

Scotland

Great Britain

2000

2001

2000

2001

Clerical and Secretarial occupations

Average weekly earnings

£286.9

£302.1

£302.2

£316.5

Average hourly earnings

£7.32

£7.64

£7.59

£7.93

 

Full Time Manual Females on Adult Rates

Scotland

Great Britain

2000

2001

2000

2001

All service industries

Average weekly earnings

£209.0

£224.8

£220.7

£236.8

Average hourly earnings

£5.40

£5.68

£5.62

£5.98

Education

Average weekly earnings

£223.0

£235.2

£226.9

£235.5

Average hourly earnings

£5.93

£6.17

£6.00

£6.29

Health & Social Work

Average weekly earnings

£197.1

£217.7

£204.2

£221.5

Average hourly earnings

£5.38

£5.47

£5.24

£5.57

 

Full Time Non Manual Females on Adult Rates

Scotland

Great Britain

2000

2001

2000

2001

All Service Industries

Average weekly earnings

£330.9

£364.5

£358.2

£389.5

Average hourly earnings

£9.09

£9.75

£9.72

£10.53

Public Administration & Defence

Average weekly earnings

£331.3

£362.5

£343.3

£361.5

Average hourly earnings

£9.11

£10.01

£9.24

£9.76

Financial Intermediation

Average weekly earnings

£344.5

£366.4

£380.6

£433.2

Average hourly earnings

£9.56

£10.09

£10.53

£11.94

Health & Social Work

Average weekly earnings

£347.9

£395.6

£360.5

£388.2

Average hourly earnings

£9.88

£9.77

£9.65

£10.20

 

 

Full Time Females on Adult Rates

Scotland

Great Britain

2000

2001

2000

2001

Clerical & Secretarial Occupations

Average weekly earnings

£254.8

£271.2

£271.9

£287.7

Average hourly earnings

£6.91

£7.27

£7.30

£7.70

Clerical Occupations

Average weekly earnings

£254.5

£270.1

£265.8

£280.9

Average hourly earnings

£6.91

£7.25

£7.12

£8.30

Secretarial Occupations

Average weekly earnings

£256.2

£277.1

£290.3

£308.9

Average hourly earnings

£6.90

£7.40

£7.82

£8.30

Personal Service Occupations

Average weekly earnings

£233.9

£232.2

£240.1

£233.4

Average hourly earnings

£6.31

£5.88

£6.26

£6.02

Notes:

  • Note that for both full-time manual males and full-time non-manual females in the Health and Social Work sector average hourly earnings in Scotland decreased between 2000 and 2001. However, weekly earnings for both these groups have modest increases, suggesting employees must be working longer hours.
  • Full time non-manual males working in service industries, and particularly those in the Transport, Storage and Communication sector experiences substantial hourly and weekly pay increases between 2000 and 2001.
  • Full time females in clerical and secretarial occupations saw substantial increases in average hourly pay over the period, of 7.25% for secretarial occupations, and 4.9% for clerical occupations.

Average Weekly Earnings:

  • Average weekly earnings in Scotland for full-time adults (including over-time) is no change on the 2000 figures of 39.6 hours, with overtime of hours 2.0 hours.

  • Men continue to work longer hours in Scotland than women at 41.2 hours a week (including over-time) with overtime hours of 2.8 hours.
  • Women's average weekly hours including overtime is 37.0 hours, with 0.8 hours overtime.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

UK Official National Statistics Website:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk

UNISON Intranet/Internet site :

http://www.unison.org.uk

This is UNISON's UK home page and should be the starting point for most searches. The Bargaining Support Unit maintains a wide range of information online including journal abstracts, statistics, UNISON documents and access to the LRD database. They also provide links to other web sites.

UNISON Scotland web site :

http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/

UNISON Scotland's home page has links to all of the P&I Briefings, policy and campaigns information, along with links to other useful web sites.

The P&I Team Briefing No1 Bargaining on the Internet has details of many other useful web sites.

TUC Web site:

The TUC site provides good information http://www.tuc.org.uk and you can register to receive regular email bulletins on a range of employment law, health and safety and equality issues.

Other useful sites include:

Incomes Data Services (IDS)
http://www.incomesdata.co.uk/

Industrial Law Journal
http://www3.oup.co.uk/indlaw/contents/

Department of Trade and Industry
http://www.dti.gov.uk

 

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