Britain's unemployment rate remains at the lowest level in more than 40 years, according to official data Wednesday that showed wages growth still lagging inflation. The jobless rate - or the proportion of the workforce that is unemployed - stood at 4.3 percent in the three months to the end of November, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
This was helped by a stronger-than-expected rise in employment to 32.2 million people - the highest level since records began in 1971, the ONS added. Unemployment fell 3,000 to 1.44 million people. "The latest labour market figures provided further reassurance that the economy held up in the fourth quarter of last year," said Paul Hollingsworth, economist at Capital Economics research group.
"The 102,000 rise in employment in the three months to November was far stronger" than market forecasts. Average weekly earnings meanwhile grew 2.5 percent in the year to November, but still lower than overall UK inflation. "With the employment rate returning to a joint record-high and the number of vacancies setting a new record, demand for workers clearly remains strong," said ONS statistician David Freeman.
"Nevertheless, inflation remains higher than pay growth and so the real value of earnings continues to decline." Price rises accelerated across the UK during 2017 after Britain's referendum vote in favour of leaving the European Union pushed down on the pound, hiking the cost of imported goods. Consequently, the Bank of England raised its main interest rate in November for the first time in a decade - to 0.5 percent from a record-low 0.25 percent. The pound however is in recovery mode, in part on rising expectations of further rate tightening from the BoE in 2018.
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