George Osborne has seized upon the news that UK unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in seven years and wages are rising at an annual rate of 3%, claiming it is evidence that his economic policies are bearing fruit.
The latest labour market data, covering the period from June to August, showed a 79,000 decline in unemployment to 1.77 million, taking the jobless rate to 5.4%.
Commenting on the data, Nick Palmer, an ONS labour market statistician, said: “Although there has been a small rise in the unemployment level, employment is also up on the previous three months, with its headline rate returning to a record high. Meanwhile regular pay – not including bonuses – is growing at its fastest for over six years.”
Osborne said: “It is great news that Britain’s economic plan continues to create jobs and increase pay. We’ve got the highest rate of employment in our history and real terms pay rising strongly.”
With inflation running at zero in August before slipping to -0.1% in September,according to the latest data published on Tuesday, average workers are finally starting to see their living standards rise after a long post-recession squeeze. Palmer added: “Wages continued to grow strongly in real terms.”
John Philpott, of the Jobs Economist consultancy, said the improvement in the labour market evident in the latest figures contrasted with the first half of 2015, when there was evidence that firms’ appetite for hiring was waning.
“The explanation for the flip in behavior is unclear, though it’s possible that recruiters were cautious in the first half of the year because of political uncertainty surrounding the general election in May. What is clear is that hiring picked up strongly from June onwards, with the number of employees rising by 120,000 in the three months to August, with full-timers accounting for more than half this increase,” he said.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
