Summary of the editorial from IDS Pay Report 968, January 2007

First January pay deals are bunched between 3 and 4 per cent

Our latest analysis of pay deals shows that settlement levels have risen in response to higher inflation, and this is before most organisations have made final decisions on their 2007 reviews. While the median for the three months to December 2006 – traditionally a quiet time for pay bargaining prior to the busy January period – remains stable, the upper quartile settlement level, the point at which a quarter of deals are above, has risen from 3.75 to 3.85 per cent. The fact that inflation has risen to just below 4 per cent is already placing upward pressure on pay reviews in the first few months of 2007. January deals recorded so far show a median of 4 per cent. In this issue we report on January pay awards of 4 per cent or above at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer.

... the full editorial can be read in IDS Pay Report 968