Managers' pay ahead of inflation

PAY increases awarded to four out of five managers outstripped inflation in the three months to January, according to research to be published this week, writes Barry Clement.

Most companies are still awarding salary rises on the basis of the inflation rate rather than 'ability to pay', Incomes Data Services has found. Exceptions are the one in six firms that have imposed a freeze on salaries. Of those awarding increases, the figure varied from less than 1 per cent to 7 per cent.

Average managerial rises in the private sector stood at 3.7 per cent at a time when the retail price index was a full percentage point below. The increasing mumber of salary freezes pulled the average rise down only marginally from 4 per cent in the previous quarter.

The 'dramatic' slowdown in pay since Britain's withdrawal from the exchange rate mechanism now seems to have stopped.

Top Pay Unit Review 145 - Incomes Data Services, 193 St John Street, London EC1V 4LS. Telephone: 071-250 3434.