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UK unemployment remains at nearly a five-year high, while wage growth has continued to slow, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The rate of UK unemployment was stood at 5.1% in September to November, which was unchanged from the previous three months.
Annual growth in average earnings, excluding bonuses, was 4.5% in September to November, which was down from 4.6% for the previous three months.
The estimated number of payrolled employees in the UK fell by 155,000 in the year to November and declined by 33,000 on the month.
An early estimate for payrolled employees in December showed a 184,000 fall on the year and a 43,000 decline month-on-month.
Meanwhile, early estimates for the number of job vacancies in the UK suggested a small increase of 10,000 for October to December.
Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics for the ONS, said: “The number of employees on payroll has fallen again, with reductions over the last year concetrated in retail and hospitality, and reflecting ongoing weak hiring activity.”
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“Meanwhile, unemployment remains at the rate reported last month, up on the quarter and the year.”
Richard Carter, head of fixed interest research at Quilter Cheviot, said that this latest data shows that UK jobs market saw a “considerable slowdown” in November.
“Businesses put hiring plans on hold ahead of the budget, and it seems they are yet to restart,” he said.
“Wage growth has weighed heavily on the Bank of England (BoE) for some time now and it will be pleased to see it has continued to ease, albeit very gradually,” Carter added. However, he said that the “first rate cut of the year is unlikely to come for a few months yet”.
The BoE cut interest rates in December to 3.75% from 4%, lowering borrowing costs to their lowest level in nearly three years.
Lale Akoner, global market analyst at eToro, said that the UK jobs market data is “flashing a clearer slowdown signal”.
“Firms are no longer just freezing hiring, they are actively cutting staff, with redundancies rising to their highest rate in years,” she said.
Akoner said that this strengthened the case for the BoE to cut interest rates, with markets now “now leaning more confidently toward at least one rate cut this year, with a second increasingly in play”.
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