Exact rate wages are rising revealed and what it means for your money – including pay rise and interest rate cuts

AVERAGE earnings in the UK has remained high, fresh data has shown.

Regular earnings decreased to to 5.6% in the three months to February, but was 2.8% higher after taking inflation into account.

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The Bank of England watches jobs and wages figures closely when making a decision about interest rates.

Last month, rate-setters voted to maintain the base rate at 4.5%.

Lenders use the base rate to determine the interest rates offered to customers on savings and borrowing costs, including mortgages.

Today's figures come a few days ahead of March's inflation figures which will be released by the ONS on Wednesday.

Inflation fell in February after it was helped by a drop in woman's clothing.

But it still remained above the Bank of England's target of 2%.

Inflation is a measure of how much the prices of everyday goods such as food and clothes, and services such as train tickets and haircuts, have increased compared to a year earlier.

Elsewhere, the rate of UK unemployment also remained unchanged at 4.4% in the three months to February.

Generally speaking, high wages are a positive for the economy, especially when it is higher than the rate of inflation.

It means households have more purchasing power and a lot of that money will go back into the economy.

But rising wages have previously been blamed for keeping inflation high by Bank of England bosses.