The U.K. labor market displayed unexpected resilience in the three months through November as employment jumped and wage growth ticked higher.The number of people in work rose 102,000 to a record high, confounding market expectations that employment would fall. Basic pay growth quickened to 2.4 percent, the highest in almost a year, though it still lags well behind the rate of inflation.The positive news could push more proactive policy makers at the Bank of England towards voting for another increase in interest rates. The amount of slack in the labor market is central to the debate at the central bank, where officials raised the benchmark rate for the first time in a decade in November amid concern that poor productivity had lowered the economy’s “speed limit.”
Source: U.K. Labor Market Unexpectedly Strong as Employment Rises – Bloomberg
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Craig Erlam
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