The October DMP survey was conducted between 4 and 18 October and received 2,248 responses.
Firms reported that their output prices rose by an average annual rate of 4.0% in the three months to October, down 0.2 percentage points from 4.2% in the three months to September. Note that the DMP covers own prices from firms across the whole economy, not just consumer-facing firms.
Year-ahead own-price inflation was unchanged at 3.5% in the three months to October. Businesses therefore expect output price inflation to decline by 0.5 percentage points over the next 12 months based on three-month averages.
Perceived CPI inflation was 2.7% in the three months to October, unchanged from the three months to September. Expectations for CPI inflation a year ahead remained unchanged at 2.6% in the three months to October. The corresponding measure for three-year ahead CPI inflation expectations was also 2.6% in the three months to October.
Firms reported annual wage growth was 5.6% in the three months to October, 0.1 percentage points lower than in the three months to September. Expected year-ahead wage growth remained unchanged at 4.1% on a three-month moving-average basis in October. Firms therefore expect their wage growth to decline by 1.5 percentage points over the next 12 months based on three-month averages.
Firms reported annual employment growth increased 0.1 percentage points to 0.6% in the three months to October. Expected year-ahead employment growth remained unchanged at 1.1% in both the three-month averages and single month data for October. Firms expect their employment growth to increase by 0.5 percentage points over the next 12 months, when considering the three-month averages.