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ONS · Labour market overview, UK (LMS time series)

Average weekly pay, real terms

2026 Q2 Final

£495

Average weekly pay, real terms was £495 in 2026 Q2, up 0.4% (£2) from £493 in 2025 Q2.

▲ 0.4% · +£2 against 2025 Q2 (same quarter previous year)

  1. ONS estimate
  2. 2026 Q2
  3. published 17 August 2026
  4. A2FC
  5. row “AWE: Whole Economy Real Terms Level (£): Seasonally Adjusted Regular Pay”
  6. column “2026 Q2”
  7. cell value 495

The series is near its highest recorded level. Rule: within 5% of the highest value in the 106 periods published here.

2000 Q1 to 2026 Q2

Average weekly pay, real terms: 2000 Q1 to 2026 Q2LabourLabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour£0£200£4002000201020202000 Q1: £402 £ · published 17 August 20262000 Q2: £402 £ · published 17 August 20262000 Q3: £405 £ · published 17 August 20262000 Q4: £409 £ · published 17 August 20262001 Q1: £413 £ · published 17 August 20262001 Q2: £415 £ · published 17 August 20262001 Q3: £419 £ · published 17 August 20262001 Q4: £422 £ · published 17 August 20262002 Q1: £425 £ · published 17 August 20262002 Q2: £427 £ · published 17 August 20262002 Q3: £428 £ · published 17 August 20262002 Q4: £428 £ · published 17 August 20262003 Q1: £432 £ · published 17 August 20262003 Q2: £435 £ · published 17 August 20262003 Q3: £437 £ · published 17 August 20262003 Q4: £439 £ · published 17 August 20262004 Q1: £440 £ · published 17 August 20262004 Q2: £444 £ · published 17 August 20262004 Q3: £447 £ · published 17 August 20262004 Q4: £450 £ · published 17 August 20262005 Q1: £452 £ · published 17 August 20262005 Q2: £454 £ · published 17 August 20262005 Q3: £456 £ · published 17 August 20262005 Q4: £458 £ · published 17 August 20262006 Q1: £460 £ · published 17 August 20262006 Q2: £461 £ · published 17 August 20262006 Q3: £461 £ · published 17 August 20262006 Q4: £463 £ · published 17 August 20262007 Q1: £465 £ · published 17 August 20262007 Q2: £468 £ · published 17 August 20262007 Q3: £473 £ · published 17 August 20262007 Q4: £472 £ · published 17 August 20262008 Q1: £473 £ · published 17 August 20262008 Q2: £470 £ · published 17 August 20262008 Q3: £468 £ · published 17 August 20262008 Q4: £470 £ · published 17 August 20262009 Q1: £471 £ · published 17 August 20262009 Q2: £471 £ · published 17 August 20262009 Q3: £468 £ · published 17 August 20262009 Q4: £468 £ · published 17 August 20262010 Q1: £468 £ · published 17 August 20262010 Q2: £465 £ · published 17 August 20262010 Q3: £467 £ · published 17 August 20262010 Q4: £465 £ · published 17 August 20262011 Q1: £461 £ · published 17 August 20262011 Q2: £458 £ · published 17 August 20262011 Q3: £456 £ · published 17 August 20262011 Q4: £456 £ · published 17 August 20262012 Q1: £454 £ · published 17 August 20262012 Q2: £455 £ · published 17 August 20262012 Q3: £454 £ · published 17 August 20262012 Q4: £450 £ · published 17 August 20262013 Q1: £447 £ · published 17 August 20262013 Q2: £448 £ · published 17 August 20262013 Q3: £447 £ · published 17 August 20262013 Q4: £446 £ · published 17 August 20262014 Q1: £444 £ · published 17 August 20262014 Q2: £444 £ · published 17 August 20262014 Q3: £445 £ · published 17 August 20262014 Q4: £448 £ · published 17 August 20262015 Q1: £452 £ · published 17 August 20262015 Q2: £454 £ · published 17 August 20262015 Q3: £454 £ · published 17 August 20262015 Q4: £455 £ · published 17 August 20262016 Q1: £459 £ · published 17 August 20262016 Q2: £461 £ · published 17 August 20262016 Q3: £460 £ · published 17 August 20262016 Q4: £459 £ · published 17 August 20262017 Q1: £458 £ · published 17 August 20262017 Q2: £459 £ · published 17 August 20262017 Q3: £458 £ · published 17 August 20262017 Q4: £458 £ · published 17 August 20262018 Q1: £459 £ · published 17 August 20262018 Q2: £460 £ · published 17 August 20262018 Q3: £462 £ · published 17 August 20262018 Q4: £464 £ · published 17 August 20262019 Q1: £467 £ · published 17 August 20262019 Q2: £469 £ · published 17 August 20262019 Q3: £471 £ · published 17 August 20262019 Q4: £472 £ · published 17 August 20262020 Q1: £471 £ · published 17 August 20262020 Q2: £465 £ · published 17 August 20262020 Q3: £476 £ · published 17 August 20262020 Q4: £487 £ · published 17 August 20262021 Q1: £488 £ · published 17 August 20262021 Q2: £489 £ · published 17 August 20262021 Q3: £487 £ · published 17 August 20262021 Q4: £484 £ · published 17 August 20262022 Q1: £484 £ · published 17 August 20262022 Q2: £475 £ · published 17 August 20262022 Q3: £474 £ · published 17 August 20262022 Q4: £473 £ · published 17 August 20262023 Q1: £475 £ · published 17 August 20262023 Q2: £476 £ · published 17 August 20262023 Q3: £481 £ · published 17 August 20262023 Q4: £481 £ · published 17 August 20262024 Q1: £484 £ · published 17 August 20262024 Q2: £488 £ · published 17 August 20262024 Q3: £491 £ · published 17 August 20262024 Q4: £492 £ · published 17 August 20262025 Q1: £492 £ · published 17 August 20262025 Q2: £493 £ · published 17 August 20262025 Q3: £493 £ · published 17 August 20262025 Q4: £495 £ · published 17 August 20262026 Q1: £493 £ · published 17 August 20262026 Q2: £495 £ · published 17 August 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

Average weekly earnings including bonuses, adjusted by ONS for consumer price inflation and expressed at constant prices, so changes show what pay buys rather than its cash value.

What this doesn’t measure

The cost of living faced by any particular household, which depends on what that household actually spends money on.

Important caveat

Real average weekly earnings are the cash series deflated by ONS using consumer price inflation. The deflator is an average across all households, so it does not describe the price rises faced by any particular household. The mix-shift caveat that applies to average pay applies here too.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
ONS
Publication
Labour market overview, UK (LMS time series)
Release
Labour market overview, UK: August 2026, published 17 August 2026
Source file
ons_labour_market.json
File SHA-256
9995a0293e3629add1cf76516e37f3e60f0be365343415867ab5fa687950e0fc
Retrieved
3 September 2026
Sheet
LMS
Table
A2FC
Row
AWE: Whole Economy Real Terms Level (£): Seasonally Adjusted Regular Pay
Column
2026 Q2
Cell value
495
Geography
United Kingdom
Unit
£
API
/api/metrics/weekly_pay_real · /series · /vintages

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–£4882024 Q2£4952026 Q2↑ 1.4%
Conservative 2019–2024£4712019 Q3£4882024 Q2↑ 3.6%
Conservative 2017–2019£4582017 Q1£4712019 Q3↑ 2.8%
Conservative 2015–2017£4522015 Q1£4582017 Q1↑ 1.3%
Coalition 2010–2015£4682010 Q1£4522015 Q1↓ 3.4%
Labour 2005–2010£4522005 Q1£4682010 Q1↑ 3.5%
Labour 2001–2005£4132001 Q1£4522005 Q1↑ 9.4%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Labour market overview, UK: August 2026 · publication page
Last updated
17 August 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)