That was up 2.2 per cent year-on-year, with "real" earnings after inflation is removed rising 1.9 per cent.
Pay for the top five per cent was up 2.5 per cent. But wages are rising more substantially for the lowest-paid five per cent, whose weekly earnings increased more than six per cent.
The living wage, effectively a higher minimum wage for over-25s, is currently £7.20 - 50p higher than the national minimum wage for adults when the policy was introduced in April.
Wages were also increased for some workers already paid more than the minimum to maintain pay differentials, while a number of employers applied the new rate for under-25s too.
In addition, there was a modest decrease in the gender pay gap, which is related to the minimum wage reforms as a higher proportion of women are employed in low-paid roles.
However, Laura Gardiner, a senior policy analyst at think-tank Resolution Foundation, said real wages are still almost seven per cent below their pre-crisis peak – and that a slowdown in low-pay increases would take a toll in the coming years.
The national living wage is to be set at 60 per cent of median earnings by the end of this parliament, which Osborne said last year would put it above £9 an hour.
But that target could be missed as an anticipated Brexit-related knock to the economy is forecast to hit median earnings. The annual rise coming in April is now expected to be to £7.50, rather than £7.60.
Nevertheless, average pay for the lowest paid will still be increasing at a decent pace - a 40p rise equates to an annual increase of 5.6 per cent, while the recent 25p hike in the minimum wage to £6.95 represents a rise of 3.7 per cent.
National living wage 'to miss 2020 £9 target'
12 October
George Osborne's much-heralded aim for a £9-per-hour minimum wage by the end of this decade may not happen.
The government has consistently signalled its commitment to the "national living wage" for over-25s, but the Resolution Foundation think-tank says slower average wage growth in the coming years will reduce any increases.
It's all the fault of Brexit, the group says. Almost all economic forecasts are for the UK to grow at a slower rate in the coming few years, which will mean average pay rises at a slower rate than had been expected.
The national living wage, which was introduced in April, saw over-25s received a 50p increase in their minimum hourly rate.
This is to increase every year, at a pace defined by the Treasury, until it hits 60 per cent of median UK earnings by 2020.
Last summer, that meant a forecasted rate of around £9.35 an hour. Now Resolution Foundation says the same ratio of average earnings will yield an hourly rate of £8.60.
Less generous rises could start from next April, it adds, with the government announcing next month that the living wage will then rise to £7.50, not £7.60 as expected.
However, this does not mean the wage is not a positive for employees. The think-tank says 800,000 workers will still escape "low pay", defined as two-thirds of average wages, by 2020, says the BBC.
The Labour Party has pledged a guaranteed minimum wage of £10 per hour if it is elected, a figure that provoked condemnation from business groups, who say it will hurt the economy.
Insolvency firm Begbies Traynor says the new living wage is already having an impact, with a 23 per cent increase in firms in the worst-hit sectors defined as being in "financial distress", says The Guardian.
So far, though, there is little evidence of jobs being lost or prices being increased. A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce last month said only around 8.5 per cent of firms have been forced to cut recruitment since the new pay rate was introduced.
National living wage effect on business 'not dramatic'
30 September
The national living wage for over-25s has had "damaging effects" on businesses, but not at the "dramatic levels" some had feared, says a new report.
A survey from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) found 34 per cent of businesses have increased pay since the new level was introduced in April, either directly to affected staff or to maintain differentials through their workforce, says Sky News.
Of these, around a quarter said they have already cut recruitment in response and a third said they will be forced to do so if the projected wage increases planned up to 2020 go ahead.
"Others spoke of changes to staff hours, benefits and the potential to cover the cost by raising their own prices," adds Sky.
Under the policy, announced by George Osborne last year, workers over the age of 25 saw their minimum pay rate increase 50p to £7.20 per hour.
Incremental increases will continue in the coming years until the rate reaches a target of 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020, when it is expected to be more than £9 per hour.
The Office for Budget Responsibility had projected around 100,000 jobs could be lost as a result of the policy, but the legislation also means real pay increases for many whose wages have stagnated since the financial crisis.
Business groups, however, are not in favour and want Theresa May to drop the policy.
But writing in The Scotsman Martin Flanagan says the BCC survey does not prove "the living wage is a bad idea" or that "on balance the Conservatives… had it wrong".
With the responses implying that only around 8.5 per cent of firms have been forced to cut recruitment and that only 11 per cent will ever need to, it shows the effects are not "at dramatic levels", he adds.
The Labour Party earlier this week pledged to introduce an even higher minimum wage of £10 per hour, guaranteed in cash terms with no reference to wider wage growth, if it is elected – a promise that concerned Adam Marshall, the acting director general of the BCC.
He told the BBC: "We should not be playing politics with these decisions. The rate should be set by the Low Pay Commission and be determined by the state of the economy."
Government urged to press on with national living wage
7 September
A centre-right think-tank is urging the government not to bow to pressure from business leaders who want increases in the national living wage (NLW) scrapped or delayed.
The Resolution Foundation, led by former Tory MP David Willetts, says limiting planned increases would be "costly" for women, the young and older workers and that Prime Minister Theresa May should "stick to her guns".
Low-paid workers could lose out by as much as £1,000 a year if the plan to increase the NLW to 60 per cent of average earnings by 2020 is dropped, says the foundation.
Conor D'Arcy, an analyst with the think tank, told the BBC abandoning the plans "would also be costly for millions of low paid workers, so the Prime Minister should stick to her guns".
After June's referendum, the government was urged by 16 trade associations to approach the proposed increases to former chancellor George Osborne's flagship policy with caution. May issued a cautious defence of the NLW in response.
They said the 'Brexit effect' on the UK economy meant the plan to increase the NLW might no longer be sustainable.
Introduced in April, the NLW is currently £7.20 for employees aged 25 or older. Osborne indicated at the launch that he expected it to rise to at least £9 an hour by 2020.
The value of the proposed increases is pegged to the country's changing economic circumstances – but the foundation has calculated the wage for over 25s will be £8.70 by 2020, despite the 'Brexit effect'.
Responding to the Resolution Foundation's new report, the Institute of Directors (IoD), the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce and the engineering trade body EFF have all reiterated their call for caution, says City AM.
The IoD's Seamus Nevin says: "The Brexit referendum has unleashed a period of considerable uncertainty for employers. The IoD and our members continue to support the NLW but we are apprehensive about the potential for an increase in unemployment."
Nigel Keohane of the Social Market Foundation says: "The scale of the challenge for employers posed by the NLW is immense. Having two targets for 2020 – one for £9 an hour and another for 60 per cent of median wages – is proving increasingly problematic because of the uncertainty over earnings growth."
Theresa May refuses to back down on national living wage
9 August
Theresa May has refused to give ground to business leaders in the face of a big lobbying push to derail a raft of increases to the minimum wage in the coming years.
"Ideally, they would like the government to drop the 2020 target and restore the original powers of the Low Pay Commission (LPC)," says the paper.
Under George Osborne's flagship policy, the minimum pay rate for over-25s rose in April by 50p to £7.20 an hour. It is set to be increased gradually over the coming four years to reach 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020.
Based on the latest official wage forecasts from March, this would equate to £9.02 per hour, one of the highest in the G7. If it progresses in a linear fashion, the LPC would up the rate to £7.60 an hour next April.
However, the businesses, many of which have long bemoaned the policy, are urging the government to ease or scrap the plan due to the expected slowdown in the wake of the vote for Brexit.
Signatories include the Federation of Small Businesses, the Association of Convenience Stores, the National Farmers Union, the Charity Finance Group and the British Beer and Pub Association.
The Prime Minister has set out her stall as governing in the interests of hard-pressed families and so is not inclined to back down on a progressive policy that has the strong backing of the likes of trade unions.
Her spokesman told The Guardian: "The prime minister has been clear that we want to build an economy that works for everyone… and making sure that people earn a decent wage for a day’s work is an important part of that."
Critics argue the national living wage will lead to an overall loss of jobs, while advocates say it should help to drive increases in the UK's woeful productivity rate.
Conor D’Arcy, a policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation think-tank, said: "By sensibly pegging the national living wage to typical earnings, the government has already built in flexibility to help steer it through choppy economic times."
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