Why is regular pay not picking up?

Despite improving economic conditions, which include the unemployment rate dropping to fresh cyclical lows, nominal wages excluding bonuses and overtime payments have continued to fall. One reason is that productivity growth is subdued. In addition, a rising exposure to foreign competition and a higher share of part-time and temporary workers have reduced employees’ bargaining power. There are suggestions that minimum wages could soon be increased, but we doubt this would do much for workers overall.