UK total wages for the three months ending in August rose by 3.7% year-on-year, below expectations

⑴ The UK's three-month total average weekly wage (including bonuses) rose by 3.7% year-on-year to £757 as of August 2026, slowing from 3.9% in the previous period and below the market expectation of 3.8%. ⑵ This reading marks the weakest annualized growth since the three months ending November 2020; wage growth in the private sector slowed from 3.3% to 3.1%, also the weakest since the three months ending November 2020. ⑶ Public sector wage growth also slowed from 6.6% to 6.3%. ⑷ Adjusted for inflation, total wages increased by 0.7%, lower than the 1.0% from the three months ending July, and marking the weakest growth since the three months ending February.