UK Oct jobs: Claimant count change upbeat, Wages tick higher
|The Office for National Statistics (ONS) noted on Wednesday, the UK’s official jobless rate held steady at 4.3% in September, while the claimant count showed a smaller-than-expected rise last month.
The number of people claiming jobless benefits rose by 1.1k in October, against expectations of a 2.3k increase and 2.6k (revised from 1.7k) seen previously. The claimant count rate remained unchanged at 2.3%.
Wage growth, excluding bonuses, matched expectations, arriving at 2.2% versus 2.2% (revised higher from 2.1%) last, while the gauge including bonuses surprised positively, coming in at 2.2% 3m y/y versus 2.1% expected and 2.3%(revised higher from 2.2%) last.
Key Points from ONS:
Employment has fallen for the first time since October 2016 and the largest drop since Apr-Jun 2015(-45K).
There were 32.06 million people in work, 14,000 fewer than for April to June 2017 but 279,000 more than for a year earlier.
The employment rate fell 0.1% 3M to Sep, but still up 0.6% versus a year ago.
Real wages still negative on an annual basis, both total and ex-Bonus fell, -0.5% and 0.4% respectively.
Vacancies rose 6K on the quarter to 780K.
Inactivity rate rose 117K (0.3%) in the quarter to 8.86M (21.6%).
Q3 productivity growth rate strongest for 6-years, however only up 0.6% over 12-months.
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