The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated April 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the average percentage yearly change in earnings in (a) the Civil Service, (b) local government, (c) the public sector and (d) the private sector was in the most recent period for which figures are available. (269900)
The only source that has information on all of the sectors you have requested is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) and this has been used to allow for a consistent comparison. Earnings estimates are provided for all employees on adult rates of pay whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. The ASHE, carried out in April each year, is based on a sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes.
I attach a table showing the annual percentage change in median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees in (a) the Civil Service, (b) local government, (c) the public sector and (d) the private sector, for 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available.
Annual percentage change Civil Service 4.4 Local Government 3.6 Public sector 4.3 Private sector 4.6 1 Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics.