We don’t know if Andrew Bailey is a Glastonbury fan. We do know he keeps singing the same old tune.
With inflation seemingly out of control, or at least out of his, the Bank of England Governor persists with the line that wage growth is too high — we all must show restraint. It’s hard to see why the thinks this is worth saying out loud, his own £500,000 pay aside.
Present pay deals, which sit well below the 8.7% inflation level, are “unsustainable” the Governor says.
He can’t seriously expect that workers hard pressed by increases in the cost of everything and looming mortgage chaos are going to refuse pay rises from a sense of, what, patriotism?
Nor can employers struggling to keep their best workers and hire new ones be expected to clamp down on pay even if that hurts their own business to the benefit of rivals.
And the notion that already low-paid staff are somehow to blame here is absurd. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show that pay is rising highest at the top end.
The best-paid 10% of the country are seeing wage increases that outstrip anyone else. Those who get £180,000 saw pay up nearly 8% last year. Those on £26,000 got 4.7%.
London is the epicentre of that wage growth among the higher earners. And none of them feel like they didn’t earn those pay rises.
If no one in the City is willing to turn down a pay boost, how can Andrew Bailey expect anyone else to do the same?
