Growth in British wages excluding bonuses slowed to an annual 6.6% in the September-to-November period compared with 7.2% in the three months to October, official data showed on Tuesday.

The figure matched the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists for the Office for National Statistics' measure of regular earnings.

The Bank of England has been worried that pay is rising too quickly for inflation to fall to its 2% target, despite a slowdown in the headline rate of price growth in recent months.

Including bonuses, which can be volatile, pay growth slowed to 6.5% from 7.2% in the three months to October.

"While annual pay growth remains high in cash terms, we continue to see signs that wage pressures might be easing overall," ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said.

"However, with inflation still falling more quickly, earnings continued to grow in real terms."

Britain's economy might have fallen into a recession in the second half of 2023, data showed last week.

But the labour market has lost only some of its inflationary heat with many employers increasing pay sharply as they struggle to retain or hire staff. (Reporting by William Schomberg and Sachin Ravikumar)