Unemployment drops as recession looms
BRITAIN’S jobless rate hit its lowest since 1974 but the drop was due mostly to a fall in the size of the workforce and there were other signs that the country’s jobs boom is petering out, adding to the Bank of England’s inflation headache.
The unemployment rate sank to 3.6 per cent in the three months to July, the Office for National Statistics said.
However, the fall was not a sign of health in Britain’s economy which is at risk of a recession. The number of people in employment grew by 40,000.
“We’re now starting to see signs of a labour market losing its momentum,” Jack Kennedy, UK economist at the global job site Indeed, said.
The economic inactivity rate measuring the share of the population who are not in work and not looking for work – increased by 0.4 percentage points on the quarter to 21.7 per cent, its highest since the three months to January 2017.
The ONS said the rise was driven by more people classified as long-term sick and by fewer full-time students moving into employment than normal for
the time of year.
At the same time, pay growth rose by more than expected, reflecting a shortage of candidates for jobs, although it still lagged far behind inflation that is expected to hit 10.2 per cent in the 12 months to August when figures were scehduled to be published on Wednesday (14).
The BoE is worried that tightness in the labour market will add to the recent surge in price pressures.
The British central bank raised interest rates the most since 1995 last month. It is expected to increase them again on September 22.
There were other signs of price pressures in the labour market in the ONS figures published on Tuesday (13).
Wages excluding bonuses rose by 5.2 per cent, the highest rate since the three months to August 2021.
Britain’s labour market defied expectations of a surge in unemployment during the coronavirus crisis, helped by a £70 billion government jobs protection programme. But there are signs recently the jobs boom is losing some of its momentum.
As well as the weaker-thanexpected increase in employment, the number of job vacancies in the June-to-August period fell by the most in two years, down 34,000, although it remained historically high at 1.266 million.