UK pay growth rises to 3.1%, the highest in almost a decade

Competition for workers helps push up wages, as unemployment stays at 4%

Britain's workers have started to repair the damage from a lost decade of wage growth after increased competition for workers pushed the government's preferred measure of pay to its highest level since the UK was deep in recession a decade ago.

The latest health check on the labour market from the Office for National Statistics showed that regular pay - which excludes bonuses - was 3.1% higher in the three months ending in August than in the same quarter a year earlier.