UK Unemployment Rate climbs to 4.6% in the quarter to April as expected
- The UK Unemployment Rate rose to 4.6% in three months to April.
- The Claimant Count Change for Britain stood at 33.1K in May.
- GBP/USD holds losses below 1.3550 after weak UK employment data.
The United Kingdom’s (UK) ILO Unemployment increased to 4.6% in the three months to April after reporting 4.5% in the quarter to March, data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday.
The data aligned with the market estimates.
Additional details of the report showed that the number of people claiming jobless benefits rose 33.1K in May, compared with a revised decline of 21.2K in April, missing the expected 9.5K figure.
The Employment Change data came in at 89K in April versus 112K in March.
Meanwhile, Average Earnings, excluding Bonus, in the UK increased 5.2% three months year-over-year (3M YoY) in April versus a revised 5.5% growth booked previously. The market forecast was for a 5.4% reading.
Another measure of wage inflation, Average Earnings, including Bonus, ticked up by 5.3% in the same period after accelerating by a revised 5.6% in the quarter through March. The data missed the estimate of 5.5%.
GBP/USD reaction to the UK employment report
GBP/USD remains under moderate selling pressure following the release of the UK employment data. The pair is trading 0.23% lower on the day at 1.3523, as of writing.
British Pound PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of British Pound (GBP) against listed major currencies today. British Pound was the weakest against the Japanese Yen.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.17% | 0.16% | 0.03% | 0.09% | 0.17% | 0.13% | 0.02% | |
| EUR | -0.17% | 0.00% | -0.15% | -0.05% | 0.02% | -0.04% | -0.12% | |
| GBP | -0.16% | -0.00% | -0.22% | -0.05% | 0.02% | -0.04% | -0.12% | |
| JPY | -0.03% | 0.15% | 0.22% | 0.10% | 0.12% | 0.03% | -0.08% | |
| CAD | -0.09% | 0.05% | 0.05% | -0.10% | 0.06% | 0.02% | -0.07% | |
| AUD | -0.17% | -0.02% | -0.02% | -0.12% | -0.06% | -0.04% | -0.14% | |
| NZD | -0.13% | 0.04% | 0.04% | -0.03% | -0.02% | 0.04% | -0.08% | |
| CHF | -0.02% | 0.12% | 0.12% | 0.08% | 0.07% | 0.14% | 0.08% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the British Pound from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent GBP (base)/USD (quote).
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
