Figures released by the States Statistics Unit today show that wages have grown by 1.8 per cent in the past 12 months, while the annual rate of inflation was 0.9 per cent for the same period.
Financial services – £49,920
Public sector – £46,800
Electricity, gas and water – £42,120
Transport, storage and communications – £41,080
Construction – £33,800
Manufacturing – £29,640
Wholesale and retail – £24,960
Agriculture – £21,840
The Average Earnings Index, which is collated entirely from June figures and does not factor in bonuses, revealed that the weekly wage was £680, which equates to £35,360 when averaged out over a 52-week year.
Islanders working in the private sector had an average pay rise of 2.2 per cent last year, while public-sector workers saw a freeze in their earnings.
In each of the past three years, the real-term wage – which factors in the rate of inflation – has grown.
Treasury Minister Alan Maclean welcomed the figures and said they were an ‘encouraging sign’ of Jersey’s economic recovery.
He said: ‘I think we can all welcome the stats as an indicator that the economy is slowly recovering.
‘Obviously, there is a caveat to that and there are risks to that recovery, such as what is going on in Greece and China. We are largely an export economy, so when something happens globally it does have a very real impact on Jersey.
‘There is still a lot of work to do. We must ensure that we continue to encourage economic growth and we need to see a drop in the unemployment figures – the rate of unemployment is still too high.
‘However, the growth in real-term wages is an encouraging sign and is another indicator that our economy is improving.’
The finance industry saw the biggest rise in average earnings, with wages increasing by more than three per cent with a weekly wage of £960 – the largest rise in this sector since 2008.
Meanwhile, wages in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors both grew by 0.5 per cent, with an average weekly wage of £420 and £570 respectively.
Senator Maclean said: ‘Any one sector will have different figures and we are seeing more growth in the finance industry.
‘If that trend continues, then some others sectors will begin to see the benefit of that, as we will start to see that trickle down.’
Addressing the fact that public-sector workers have seen their wages remain flat and have a proposed pay freeze to come, Senator Maclean added: ‘What we don’t want is a public sector that is unaffordable and means we have to levy charges and taxes onto the public, which could snuff out the recovery.’
The index has been collected from 334 private-sector firms who returned a survey questionnaire, as well as all States departments. The number of workers whose earnings are used to calculate the index represents just over half of the Island’s total workforce.
The latest report for June 2015 shows that:
- in June 2015 average weekly earnings in Jersey were 1.8% higher than in June 2014
- the latest annual increase is 0.8 percentage points lower than that of the previous twelve-month period (2.6% to June 2014)
- average earnings increased by 0.9 percentage points more than retail prices over the twelve months to June 2015
- private sector average weekly earnings increased by 2.2% over the twelve months to June 2015
- public sector average weekly earnings were unchanged over the twelve months to June 2015, corresponding to an annual change of 0.0%
- in real terms, adjusting for retail price inflation, average earnings in Jersey have been essentially flat since 2001, increasing by less than 1% over the 14-year period
- private sector earnings have increased by 1% in real terms since 2001
- public sector earnings have decreased by almost 3% in real terms since 2001
- the mean average weekly earnings of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees in Jersey in June 2015 was £680 per week[/breakout]
