UK Private-Sector Pay Growth Slows to 2.9% as BOE Seen Holding at 3.75%
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Jun 18
UK Private-Sector Pay Growth Slows to 2.9% as BOE Seen Holding at 3.75%
2 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Jun 18
Summary
Private-sector regular pay rose 2.9% in the three months to April, down from 3.1% and marking the weakest growth in more than five years.
Payroll employment fell 0.5% from a year earlier in April, or 138,000 jobs, while May payrolls were broadly flat, pointing to weak hiring as the main drag on wages.
Vacancies dropped to 707,000, a post-pandemic low, and the ONS said new recruits were at their lowest level in five years even as unemployment edged down to 4.9% because inactivity increased.
The softer labour data strengthened expectations that the Bank of England will keep rates at 3.75% on Thursday, despite inflation holding at 2.8% in May and energy costs rising.