Earnings have risen fastest among the lowest paid owing to the introduction of higher minimum wage levels.
A 6.2% rise for the lowest paid UK workers meant pay inequality narrowed between April 2015 and early April 2016, the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate.
The pay gap between men and women has also shrunk slightly, it said.
Pay overall rose at its joint highest rate since the financial crisis, driven by wage rises in the private sector.Weekly earnings for full-time workers were 2.2% higher in April from a year earlier, or by 1.9% after inflation.
Despite the increases, the Resolution Foundation think tank points out that typical earnings still remain 6.8% below pre-financial crisis levels. The median average full-time worker was paid £539 a week - or £28,028 a year - before tax in April 2016.
In a sign of the growing "gig" economy - in which workers have a more flexible, short-term, sporadic work pattern - part-time earnings were up by 6.6%.