Official statistics indicated that Britain’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose and vacancies declined for the fifth week in a row, as employers were concerned about the economy’s prospects, ahead of a stern government budget plan later this week.
However, wage growth remained solid, with the rise in basic pay reaching a record high excluding the pandemic period, putting pressure on the Bank of England to maintain hiking borrowing prices despite the economic slump.
With finance minister Jeremy Hunt preparing to raise taxes and reduce expenditure to fix the public finances on Thursday, potentially extending the projected recession, the unemployment rate jumped to 3.6%, pushed up by a rate of 3.8% in September alone.
Reuters polled economists, who predicted the unemployment rate will remain at 3.5%.
The number of persons in work decreased by 52,000 from July to September, according to the Office for National Statistics, a larger reduction than the 25,000 dip predicted in a Reuters survey.
The number of job openings fell to 1.23 million from August to October, the lowest since late 2021.
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