Pay settlements in Britain

Data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey are analysed to investigate the processes and outcomes of pay setting for the largest occupational group in a representative sample of all but the smallest British workplaces. The effects of inflation, changes in labour demand and supply, comparability and up- skilling are all examined. Trade unions appear to modify the process of pay-setting more than the outcome: if anything, bargained settlements are somewhat smaller than non-bargained ones.