UK unemployment rate rises and wage growth slows again – what it means for your money

11/12/2024 02:05 AM

THE UK rate of unemployment has risen while wage growth has eased, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Unemployment rose to 4.3% between July and September, from 4% for the previous three months.

Official figures released this morning have revealed that basic pay is still growing but at its slowest rate in two years.

Pay excluding bonuses stood at 4.8% in the three months to September.

Growth was previously lower than this in April to June 2022, when it was 4.7%.

While, including bonuses, it was 4.3%. According to the ONS total growth rate was affected by the civil service one-off payments made in July and August 2023.

It comes after statistics released last month showed the growth in employees’ average total pay was 4.9% between June and August.

In real terms, when adjusted for inflation real regular pay growth on the year held at 1.9% – as it was from June to August. Total pay stood at 1.4%.

Inflation is the rate at which goods increase have increased over time, and is used to measure the cost of living.

The most recent data shows inflation dropped to 1.7% from 2.2% the month before.

The figures mean that wages are still growing but just at a slower rate than what was recorded before.

Elsewhere, the ONS released a revised estimate of the number of employees on the payroll in September, it shows this was down 9,000 on the month.

The previous estimate for October was down another 5,000.

There were 831,000 job vacancies from August to October, down 35,000 from the previous three months, although still 35,000 above pre pandemic levels.

Commenting on today's labour market figures, ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “Growth in pay excluding bonuses eased again this month to its lowest rate in over two years. Pay growth including bonuses increased, but for recent periods these figures have been affected by last year's one-off payments made to public sector workers.”

It comes less than a week after the UK’s central bank, the Bank of England (BoE), reduced the base rate from 5% to 4.75%.

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