Wages are now rising faster than prices in the UK, giving workers a respite from the cost of living crisis, while job vacancies continue to fall in a sign that tensions in the labor market are easing. .
The growth of wages (excluding bonuses) reached 7.8% between June and August, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) indicated this Tuesday, a level among the highest recorded since the publication of this data began in 2001.
At the same time, between June and August inflation in the United Kingdom fell from 7.9% to 6.7% year-on-year.
The ONS also revised up the growth rate of wages excluding bonuses for the three months to July, to 7.9% from 7.8% previously. This represents a 0.1% increase in real wages (excluding inflation) over the period.
September inflation figures will be published on Wednesday and the market expects, on average, a further drop to 6.6%.
Threats to unemployment
Unusually, the ONS postponed until next week the publication of the unemployment rate, which should also have been published on Tuesday. It reached 4.3% in the three months to the end of July, higher than before the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting weak British economic activity.
The worker shortage that has hit many businesses over the past two years since the post-pandemic economic recovery is easing: the ONS on Tuesday released figures on the number of jobs to be filled, which continues to fall, down to 988,000 in July-September, or 43,000 fewer people than in the second quarter.
A sign of business difficulties: the bankruptcy of British Wilko stores in September led to the loss of more than 12,000 jobs.
For him, this increases the likelihood that the Bank of England will choose to keep its interest rate unchanged at its next monetary policy meeting on November 2.
In the last meeting it maintained its rate at 5.25%. Last week, the governor of the Bank of England insisted that “restrictive” monetary policy remains necessary to tackle UK inflation, which remains the highest in the G7.
The bank’s chief economist, Huw Pill, added on Monday that the Bank of England had “more work to do” to bring inflation back to its 2% target, raising the possibility of further tightening of the monetary policy. guys.
Source: BFM TV
