The median salary for a full-time worker in the UK rose 1.4% in 2011 to £26,244, against a headline CPI inflation rate of 5% or higher
Progress in closing the gender pay gap has also slowed, with women in full-time employment earning on average £5,409 less than men – the gap narrowed by £179 in 2010 compared with £558 in 2009.
Unions have suppressed wage differentials in the public sector. They have extracted excellent benefits for their members. And they have protected underperforming workers from being sacked.
In the first half of 2010, the story was that the big emerging economies – India, China and Brazil – were acting as the locomotive for global growth. But during the second half of 2010, there were signs of the United States and Germany joining the party