Britain enjoying wages and jobs boom as we roar back from Covid

BRITAIN is enjoying a wages and jobs boom as we roar back from Covid, figures suggest.

Total average pay surged by a whopping 8.8 per cent year-on-year in the three months to June.

The number in work rocketed by nearly 200,000 in that period — making up four-fifths of the decline since the pandemic started.

And there are a record 953,000 job vacancies, up a 43.8 per cent — 290,000 — on the previous quarter.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak and PM Boris Johnson hailed the figures as fears of mass unemployment following the end of the furlough scheme faded.

The ONS data also revealed unemployment has dipped to 4.7 per cent. Mr Sunak said: “Our plan for jobs is working — saving people’s jobs and getting people back into work.

"There could still be bumps in the road, but the data is promising.”

But the huge wage growth means the Chancellor will come under pressure to reform the triple lock — or see the bill for state pensions soar.

Ian Browne, pensions expert at Quilter, said the rise in pensions is a “ticking time bomb” for ministers.

He added: “Time is quickly running out for Sunak to make one of the most contentious spending decisions of a generation.”