With the Royal College of Nursing calling on the UK Government to increase wages by at least 10%, the monthly Indeed Wage Tracker shows the extent to which salaries offered to nurses have lagged behind the wider labour market.

Despite a high number of job vacancies, wage growth for nurses has been slower compared to other occupations that have also seen high demand for workers, such as driving (5.5%), food preparation and service (6.2%), loading and stocking (7.2%), and social care (7.9%).

Overall wage growth remains high but is slowing 

The tracker, which measures growth in wages and salaries advertised in Indeed job postings in eight advanced economies: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the US, shows that in December 2022, y-o-y growth in posted wages across categories remained high at 6% in the UK and 4.9% on average across the six euro-area countries tracked. However, it also found that post-pandemic wage growth experienced in the UK and Euro area is no longer accelerating. 

These growth rates are well above their December 2019 figures of 2.8% and 1.1% but they are down from their 2022 peaks of 6.4% and 5.3%, respectively. The decline is even more pronounced in the US.

Wages are still growing faster than before the pandemic, yet Indeed analysis shows posted wage growth appears to have peaked at a rate well below total consumer price inflation in the UK and euro-area countries. Instead, wage growth is tracking core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices.

Pawel Adrjan, Director, EMEA Economic Research, at the global hiring platform Indeed, said: “Following indications at the end of last year that wage growth in the UK and Euro area was starting to slow, our latest analysis continues to suggest that wage acceleration has reached its peak after the post-pandemic boom in demand for workers. While wage growth remains high, it considerably lags consumer price inflation, with workers across industries feeling increased cost-of-living strains. 

“These pressures are more stark in certain categories, with nurses seeing the lowest year-on-year pay growth of just 2.9% in the UK. It is against this backdrop of languishing public sector pay that we are set to see further industrial action across a number of industries in the coming months. 

“While it is still too early to say with certainty whether wage growth will continue to slow, it is likely greater caution from employers when it comes to pay will continue. We will keep watching this trend, as well as its implications for real wages and monetary policy, as we move through 2023.”