UK Unemployment Rate rises to 3.9% in quarter to January vs. 3.8% expected

The UK Unemployment Rate climbed to 3.9% in the quarter to January.
The Claimant Count Change for Britain arrived at 16.8K in January.
GBP/USD tests lows near 1.2800 after mixed UK jobs data.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The United Kingdom’s (UK) ILO Unemployment Rate rose to 3.9% in three months to January, a tad higher than the 3.8% in December, data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Tuesday. The market expectations were for a 3.8% print in the reported period.

Additional details of the report showed that the number of people claiming jobless benefits rose by 16.8K in February when compared to a gain of 3.1K in January. The market forecast was for a 20.3K increase in the reported period.

The British Employment Change data for January arrived at -21K, as against a 72K rise in December.

Average Earnings excluding Bonus in the UK rose 6.1% 3M YoY in January versus December’s 6.2% increase, missing the market expectations of a 6.2% growth.

Another measure of wage inflation, Average Earnings including Bonus increased 5.6% in the reported period, compared with a 5.8% increase in December and the expected 5.7% growth.

The UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride MP, told FXStreet: “Our plan for the economy is working. Employment is up on the year, the number of people on payrolls is at a record high, and inactivity is falling. “But our work is not done. Our Back to Work Plan will help a million people to find, stay and succeed in employment. With the next generation of welfare reforms, we’re reducing the number of people on the highest tier of incapacity benefits by 371,000 – people who will now receive support back into work.”

“And with the tax cuts announced in last week’s Budget we will boost the labour force by the equivalent of 200,000 workers, while putting £900 back into the pockets of 27 million hardworking people,” Stride added.

GBP/USD reaction to the UK employment report

GBP/USD dropped to test 1.2800 on discouraging UK employment data. The pair is trading 0.05% lower on the day at 1.2805, as of writing.

Pound Sterling price today

The table below shows the percentage change of Pound Sterling (GBP) against listed major currencies today. Pound Sterling was the weakest against the Euro.

	USD	EUR	GBP	CAD	AUD	JPY	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.06%	0.11%	-0.04%	-0.01%	0.43%	0.00%	-0.04%
EUR	0.06%		0.15%	0.02%	0.04%	0.48%	0.04%	0.01%
GBP	-0.11%	-0.14%		-0.12%	-0.09%	0.32%	-0.08%	-0.13%
CAD	0.04%	-0.02%	0.12%		0.03%	0.45%	0.03%	-0.01%
AUD	0.01%	-0.06%	0.11%	-0.03%		0.44%	0.00%	-0.04%
JPY	-0.42%	-0.45%	-0.30%	-0.44%	-0.42%		-0.39%	-0.45%
NZD	0.00%	-0.05%	0.09%	-0.02%	0.00%	0.43%		-0.03%
CHF	0.05%	0.00%	0.15%	0.00%	0.03%	0.46%	0.04%

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 Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (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.

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