UK unemployment steady, as wages erode at record pace

LONDON: Britain’s unemployment rate remains close to a 50-year low, but decades-high inflation is causing the value of wages to fall at a record pace, official data showed on Tuesday.

Unemployment stood at 3.8 percent in the three months to the end of May, unchanged from the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

Job vacancies remain close to record-high levels.

ONS head of labour market statistics David Freeman noted that demand for workers was “clearly still very high” after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.

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However, “following recent increases in inflation, pay is now clearly falling in real terms both including and excluding bonuses”, he said.

“Excluding bonuses, real pay is now dropping faster than at any time since records began in 2001.”