Whole-economy regular wage growth accelerated to 7.8% in the three months to June, from 7.5% previously. That was well above our estimate for 7.5% and consensus expectations for 7.4%. The surprise, relative to our forecasts, was almost fully accounted for by revisions to the data rather than news about the monthly pace of growth in June.

Whole-economy wage gains including bonuses ticked up faster, to 8.2% in June from 7.2% previously, largely due to one-off payments made to National Health Service workers on that month.

More important for the BOE is regular pay growth in the private sector, which climbed to 8.2% in the three months to June, from 7.9% in May. We expected it to rise to 7.8%, while the BOE was projecting it to come in at 7.6% in its August forecast. One thing to note is that the reading is still affected by April’s near-10% rise in the national minimum wage.

Eoin Treacy's view

UK CPI will be updated tomorrow. The ex-food, alcohol and tobacco measure was still close to the peak level of around 7% at the last update in late June. With wage growth picking up, the Bank of England will be hoping inflationary pressures don’t reaccelerate and contribute to a dreaded wage-price spiral.