Wages in Brighton and Hove outstripped inflation, as real-terms pay in the UK steadied, new figures show.

The Office for National Statistics said total pay including bonuses in the UK jumped by 8.5 per cent and outstripped inflation for the first time since March 2022.

However, experts said only some sectors, such as business and finance, have benefited, while low-paid workers in industries like retail and transport continue to see their wages fall short of inflation.

ONS figures show the median wage in Brighton and Hove saw an 8.8 per cent increase in the three months to July, which surpassed Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate of 7.8 per cent over the same period.

The total pay in the UK, including bonuses, jumped by 8.5 per cent and outstripped inflation by 0.6 per cent for the first time since March 2022.

Median monthly pay in the area was £2,283 as of July – up from £2,125 the same month a year before.

Excluding bonuses, workers’ average weekly earnings across the country grew by 7.8 per cent in the three months to July – the highest increase since comparable records began in 2001.

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Martin Beck, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, a UK economic forecasting group, said the bank is facing a “quandary”, with wage growth remaining at a record high, but the jobs market turning after 14 rate rises in a row.

The latest figures show the unemployment rate in the UK surged to its highest level since July to September 2021, at 4.3 per cent in the three months to July.

This was up from 4.2 per cent in the previous three months, as the number of unemployed people rose by 159,000 quarter-on-quarter to 1.5 million.

In the South East, unemployment rose by 0.4 per cent in the three months to July, compared to the same period last year, meaning 3.9 per cent of people were out of work.

The ONS added there were 281,000 working days lost because of labour disputes in July, with the majority in the education and health and social work sectors.