UK jobs and unemployment rate in September 2018

Chris Ratcliffe / Stringer / Getty
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• UK wage growth picks up to almost 3% in the three months to
  July.
• “Earnings have grown faster than prices for several
  months, especially looking at pay excluding bonuses,” David
  Freeman, the ONS’ head of labour market statistics said in
  a statement.
• The increase is down in part to over one million NHS
  workers getting a payrise in the month.
• Elsewhere, unemployment continued to fall, with 55,000
  fewer people out of work.

Wages for average British workers surged in the last three
months,
according to new data released by the Office for National
Statistics on Tuesday.

The ONS said that average wages increased by 2.9% in the three
months to July without bonuses, while including bonuses that
figure was 2.6%. Both numbers were ahead of the expectations of
economists, who had forecast 2.8% and 2.4% growth respectively.

“Earnings have grown faster than prices for several months,
especially looking at pay excluding bonuses,” David Freeman, the
ONS’ head of labour market statistics said in a
statement.

The increase in average wages across the UK was down, in
large part, to the broad based increase in wages for NHS workers
which came into force in July. The NHS employs more than 1
million people, so its impact on UK wage data is outsized.

Away from the latest wage numbers, the ONS said that the
UK’s base rate of unemployment was unchanged in the three months
to July, remaining at a historic low of just 4%. The number of
unemployed people, however, continued to fall, with 55,000 fewer
people out of work than in the previous three months.

The rate of employment was also unchanged, as were the
number of people in work, the ONS said.

“With the number of people in work little changed,
employment growth has weakened,” Freeman added.

“However, the labour market remains robust, with the number
of people working still at historically high levels, unemployment
down on the year and a record number of vacancies.”