Wiley
Yes it is. Estimated by independent newpapers at 37% at the moment.
Any official figures you get are for the year gone by - not the year we are in. This is how we truly fall behind on pay increases. They are largely tempered by the government figure for the preceding year. Hence EK and others will be looking at the 11% to benchmark against.
However this figure is now history as the number was worked over 2007. What will be completely ignored will be the large price hikes we enjoyed in January when many companies took the change of calender year as the place to revalue stocks and ramp up prices to cater for their own increases.
So, we have experienced the 40% increase year to date, but salaries will rise to cater for the official, and now outdated, figures of the 2007 year.
This cycle is why we are where we are now; with salaries well behind what they used to be. The cycle was not particularly noticeable with the 3%, 4%, 5% figures of at the beginning of the decade but the cumulative effect and double digit inflation of today brings it sharply into focus.
With inflation destined to only go up, many will now fully understand the meaning of Inflation Spiral.
Hard lessons ahead.............