UK Unemployment Rate Declines; Job Vacancies At Record High
The UK unemployment rate declined and job vacancies rose to a record level, underscoring the recovery in the labor market as the end of furlough scheme had little impact, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate decreased 0.5 percentage points on the quarter to 4.3 percent in the third quarter, the labor force survey revealed. The expected rate was 4.4 percent.
At the same time, the employment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 75.4 percent.
During August to October, the number of job vacancies continued to rise to a new record of 1,172,000, with 15 of the 18 industry sectors showing record highs, data showed.
In October, there were 29.3 million employees, up 160,000 on the revised September 2021.
“Record job vacancies suggest that the chronic staff shortages encountered by businesses are intensifying and this could derail the recovery by forcing firms into a more long-lasting decline in their operating capacity,” British Chamber of Commerce Head of Economics, Suren?Thiru, said.
At the Treasury Committee hearing on Tuesday, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said the official data on labor market due this month and in December would be critical for the next interest rate decision.
Today’s release has given the Bank of England an amber light and the next labor market release on December 14 will probably give it the green light to raise interest rates from 0.10 percent to 0.25 percent on December 16, Paul Dales, an economist at Capital Economics, said.
In July to September, annual growth in average total pay including bonuses logged an annual growth of 5.8 percent, bigger than the economists’ forecast of 5.6 percent.
Excluding bonuses, average total pay advanced 4.9 percent annually versus the expected rate of 5 percent.
The jobless claims decreased by 14,900 in October from the previous month. The claimant count rate dropped marginally to 5.1 percent from 5.2 percent in September.
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