Average Earnings In Jersey Up 4.7%

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

29 August 2007

The Jersey authorities have published this year's Average Earnings Index, showing that average earnings in June 2007 were up 4.7% on June 2006.

The Index of Average Earnings measures changes in earnings (gross wages and salaries, excluding bonuses) paid to employees. The data are collected for all States of Jersey Departments and a large representative sample of firms in the private sector, covering nearly half of Jersey’s working population.

According to the government, the latest annual increase in average earnings was 1.4 percentage points higher than that reported for the previous twelve-month period (3.3% to June 2006), but was below the longer term average seen between 1991 and 2006.

The figures also revealed that average earnings in the private sector increased by 4.3% over the year to June 2007, whilst the public sector saw average earnings increase by 6.7%, due to two annual pay awards being implemented for the majority of public sector employees in the twelve months to June 2007.

The highest annual increases in average earnings were seen in the construction and public sectors. In contrast, earnings in agriculture remained essentially unchanged over the last twelve months.

The overall increase in average earnings was found to be above that of retail prices (measured by the Retail Price Index) over the twelve months to June 2007.

The annual change in the Jersey Retail Prices Index (RPI) stood at 4.3% in June 2007. Increases in earnings in Jersey are generally linked to the RPI, in that a company or organisation will implement a pay increase which is linked in some way to a published figure for the change in the RPI.

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