Over half of businesses see significant rise in staff hourly wages: ONS
Over three quarters of businesses (77%) across the UK which have 10 or more employees have reported their staffing costs had increased over the last three months.
Staffing costs including wages, bonuses, National Insurance and pension contributions had increased 41 percentage points compared with late February 2025, and up 17 percentage points compared with a year ago.
Over half of businesses (55%) with 10 or more employees reported that their employees’ hourly wages increased in April 2025 compared with March – a 38 percentage point rise compared to January. This was also a six percentage point increase compared to April 2024 and the highest proportion reported since the question was introduced in June 2022.
The figures released by the Office for National Statistics are from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) showing the impact of challenges facing the economy and other events on UK businesses and its latest set of weekly experimental ‘real-time indicators’.
The data presented are the final results from Wave 133 of the BICS, which was live from 19th May to 1st June 2025.
Meanwhile, MRI OnLocation data shows overall retail footfall increased by 5% in the week to 1st June 2025, compared with the previous week, but decreased by 1% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024.
The increase in footfall in the latest week was seen across high streets (2%), retail parks (5%) and shopping centres (9%), coinciding with the late May bank holiday.
