Sainsbury’s to hike wages by 5% after ‘biggest ever Christmas’; pound dips after bond sell-off – business live
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Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. Sainsbury’s is to hike the wages of staff across its supermarket by an inflation-busting 5%, after reporting its “biggest ever Christmas”.
The UK’s second-largest grocer has just announced it will raise pay for its hourly-paid colleagues by 5% over the next year, meaning staff will continue to receive the real Living Wage, which is higher than the national minimum wage. Simon Roberts, chief executive of J Sainsbury plc, says:.
“Our people are fundamental to achieving our Next Level Sainsbury’s plan and we are pleased to announce that we will raise pay for our hourly-paid colleagues by five per cent in the year ahead, split into two separate increases to help manage a particularly tough cost inflation environment.
We believe in rewarding our colleagues well for delivering leading service and productivity and we will be the best paying UK grocer from March.”. The increases will come in March, and in August. It means pay for hourly-paid staff at Sainsbury’s and Argos will increase to £12.45 per hour in March and then £12.60 per hour by August, matching the Real Living Wage.
Pay for those in London will rise to £13.70/hour in March, and again to £13.85 in August. Pay rises are welcome news for UK workers who have struggled through a long cost-of-living squeeze. But they cause anxiety at the Bank of England, which fears that rising wages could fuel inflation, above its 2% target.
