Wage growth cools and job vacancies fall, new ONS figures show

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Wage growth has slowed sharply within the UK and the job market is starting to chill, in keeping with figures printed by the Office for National Statistics this morning.

The ONS reported that UK common common earnings, excluding bonuses, elevated by 6.6 per cent within the three months to November, down from a revised 7.2 per cent within the earlier three months, the bottom charge for the reason that three months to January final yr.

After taking Consumer Prices Index inflation under consideration, pay lifted 1.4 per cent

The charge of UK unemployment remained unchanged at 4.2% within the three months to November, and the variety of job vacancies fell by 49,000 over the three months to December to 934,000, marking the 18th interval in a row that openings have fallen.

Liz McKeown, the ONS’s director of financial statistics, mentioned the overally financial image was “broadly stable”:

Job vacancies fell once more, with the retail space seeing the largest fall. However, the general variety of vacancies nonetheless stays above its pre-pandemic stage.

“November saw the lowest number of days lost to strikes for 18 months, driven by a big drop in the health sector.

“While annual pay growth remains high in cash terms, we continue to see signs that wage pressures might be easing overall.

“However, with inflation still falling more quickly, earnings continued to grow in real terms.”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt mentioned: “With inflation falling, it’s heartening to see real wages growing for the fifth month in a row.

“This is on top of the record cut to national insurance worth nearly £1,000 in a typical household with two working people, putting more money in their pockets.”

The Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, additionally praised Government progress on inflation and unemployement.

He instructed Times Radio: “What we have seen is inflation really coming down, meeting the Prime Minister’s target ahead of schedule, halving it from its previous peak – that means more money in people’s pockets.

“We’ve seen near record levels of payroll employment, near record low levels of unemployment, on economic inactivity it’s actually down by 300,000 since its peak in the pandemic, so our plan on the economy is absolutely working.”

However, Liz Kendall MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, mentioned the figures confirmed the “same old story of economic failure by this incompetent Tory Government.”

She mentioned: “We remain the only country in the G7 with an employment rate still below pre-pandemic levels and there are 2.6 million people locked out of work due to long term sickness – an all time high that costs them and the taxpayer.

“It’s time for change. Labour has a plan to grow the economy, bring the benefits bill down and get Britain working. We will tackle the root causes of economic inactivity by driving down NHS waiting lists, reforming social security, making work pay and supporting people into good jobs across every part of the country.”