Disloyalty Bonus Widens as U.K. Job Changers Get 8% Pay Rise

(Bloomberg) --

Britons who moved jobs saw their pay surge by 8% in the last year as labor shortages handed candidates significant bargaining power.

The boost widened the “disloyalty bonus” over those remaining in the same job, who received an increase of just 1.6%, Office for National Statistics data published Tuesday show.

The figures underscore the tightness of the U.K. labor market and may raise fresh concerns among inflation watchers at the Bank of England. Pay growth for jobs changers is now running at the fastest pace for three years.

Median weekly earnings for full-time employees rose by 2.9% in the year to April, ahead of the rate of inflation, but real earnings remain lower than their peak in 2008. Low earners had the biggest pay rises last year, thanks to hikes in the minimum wage.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Atkinson in London at a.atkinson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, David Goodman, Lucy Meakin

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