Unemployment remains at a four year high with The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the rate at 4.7% in the three months to July
Liz McKeown director of Economic Statistics, ONS, said: “The labour market continues to cool, with the number of people on payroll falling again, while firms also told us there were fewer jobs in the market
“The number of vacancies also fell on the quarter, though the rate of decline appears to have slowed
There was a fall of 8,000 for the number of payrolled workers last month and another 10,000 drop in vacancies over the quarter to August.
Meanwhile wage growth while still ahead of inflation has slowed over the same period
Commenting on the figures Ben Harrison, Director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, a leading think tank for improving working lives in the UK said:
“Today’s figures highlight the challenge the Government faces in turning the economy around as the labour market continues to show signs of cooling.
“Unemployment continues to creep up. It is now at the high level in just under four years at 4.7%, and up 194,000 on the year. Concerningly for Ministers seeking to create additional pathways to work, there are now more people looking for fewer available jobs – with 2.3 jobseekers per vacancy. And the risk remains that unemployment rises further in the months ahead.
“The cooling labour market has also impacted wage growth. Nominal wage growth slowed to 4.8%, which is the first time it has dipped below 5% for three years since June 2022. Worryingly, this period of consistent pay growth has not fed through to real wages. Workers remain only £24 better off since the start of the Financial Crisis in August 2008.
“The combination of stagnant living standards and sticky inflation means that people are still likely to feel pessimistic about their household finances one year into the new Parliament. Only half of workers (48%) believe wage increases are keeping up with the cost of living and just 43% expect an above inflation pay rise in the next 12 months.
“As the potential for tax rises looms at the upcoming Autumn Budget, Government must ensure it does not increase the pressure on lower income workers who have borne the brunt of this squeeze in recent years.”
