UK wages rose by 2.7% in August, a positive surprise

The UK wages excluding bonuses rose by 3.1% y/y compared to 2.8% y/y expected.
The UK wages including bonuses rose by 2.7% y/y compared to 2.4% y/y expected.
The UK unemployment rate steadied at a four-decade low of 4.0% in August.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday, the UK’s average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses beat expectations, arriving at 3.1% 3m y/y versus 2.9% last and 2.8% expected while the gauge including bonuses came in at 2.7% 3m y/y versus 2.6% previous and 2.4% expected.

The Kingdom’s official jobless rate steadied at 4.0% in August, while the claimant count change showed a bigger-than-expected increase.

The number of people claiming jobless benefits rose sharply by 18.5k in September, against expectations of a 10.0k increase and +14.2k (revised from +8.7k) seen previously. The claimant count rate stayed unchanged at 2.6%.

“Latest estimates show that average weekly earnings for employees in Great Britain in real terms (that is, adjusted for price inflation) increased by 0.7% excluding bonuses, and by 0.4% including bonuses, compared with a year earlier,” the ONS said in the report.

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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