The UK unemployment rate has fallen, in a pre-budget boost to chancellor John Healey, but the number of vacancies available for workers continues to shrink.
Double quotation mark “Today’s figures show the resilience of our labour market with unemployment falling and the UK’s employment rate now the third highest in the G7, despite a backdrop of global uncertainty.
But underlying problems remain, with around one million young people not in education, employment or training and overall employment more than two million short of the Government’s 80% employment rate target.
” Pay continued to rise faster in the public sector than in the private sector, today’s labour market report shows.
“This data has caught the market on the hop, with traders scrambling to respond and boost exposure to the pound.