Employment figures for April due later this week are expected to show the biggest rise in real wages growth for nearly eight years, according to new analysis.
The data will give George Osborne a post-election lift after a weak first few months of the year that have shown manufacturing output slide backwards and the biggest boost to growth come from the City and the hotel and restaurant sectors.
The Resolution Foundation thinktank predicted that average weekly earnings growth will have jumped to an annual rate of between 2.5% and 2.6% in February-April 2015, compared with 2.2% in January-March.
Combined with inflation falling to -0.1% in April, it means real wages rose by 2.5-2.7%, their fastest rate since October 2007, the study found.
