A wage gap is emerging in industry as successful employers award bigger increases to offset inflation while others, squeezed by rising costs and faltering demand, have cut real wages.

A quarter of pay rises were at or above 4.5 per cent during the three months to the end of July, according to pay analysts Incomes Data Services, with some of the biggest increases awarded in the chemicals, pharmaceuticals and construction industries. Some 14 per cent of private sector settlements were at or above 5 per cent, IDS said.