Despite headlines about a public sector 'pay bonanza', increases in average earnings for key public sector jobs such as nurses and teachers have remained modest since 2000, according to new research.
Based on its analysis of figures from the government's Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Incomes Data Services (IDS) said that average earnings for most key public sector occupations had been broadly stable in relation to average earnings for all employees.
However, police officers remained the one exception, with the relative position of earnings for the role worsening in the last six years, the report stated.
This comes at a time when the home secretary has announced a review of police pay, IDS said, with the introduction of a review body to determine police pay rises one option under consideration.
Ken Mulkearn, editor of IDS Pay Report, said: "Police officers' earnings, like those of their public sector colleagues, have been rising at rates which are not much different to those we have been witnessing in the private sector.
"Far from being way ahead, public sector earnings are in line with those across the rest of the economy."
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