Average wages increase 6.7% as Britons take home £2,260

Employment rates have increased (Image: GETTY) Working Britons have seen their wages increase over the past year helping them meet at least some of the rising cost of living . Median monthly pay is predicted to be £2,260 a month for August 2023, up 6.7 percent from a year ago when wages were at £2,119. This is a slight drop from last month when wages were at £2,271, which was down from the peak in June, when wages were at £2,305. Wages have steadily increased over the past decade apart from a dip in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Analysis from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) said: ‘From June 2020 median pay growth has been positive and is now above pre-coronavirus pandemic (February 2020) levels. ‘The high level of pay growth in April 2021 is attributed to the relatively high median pay in April 2021, combined with the suppressed level of median pay in April 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.’ For the three months to July 2023, 10 percent of payrolled employees earned £751 a month or less while 90 percent of payrolled workers earned £5,410 or less. There has been a growth in the number of payrolled employees as Britain has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the highest growth in London, where the rate has increased 1.7 percent compared to a year ago. However, some parts of London have seen their rates of employment fall, including Camden and City of London, Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea. Employment rates have increased (Image: Getty) Coventry was the area with the most growth with a 3.9 percent increase in the number of payrolled employees. Other English cities have enjoyed good growth with Luton increasing its employment rate by 3.7 percent. Wolverhampton had 3.1 percent growth, Portsmouth had a 2.8 percent increase and Derby saw an increase of 2.7 percent. ONS commentary on the figures said: ‘Over the course of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, all regions’ growth rates followed a similar pattern. “Growth rapidly declined and became negative in April 2020, but from the middle of 2021 began to recover. ‘As regions have caught up with their pre-coronavirus level, these high growth rates have started to fall back to rates seen historically before the coronavirus pandemic.’ For the latest personal finance news, follow us on Twitter at @ExpressMoney_.