Unemployment rises and wage growth slows – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have said that wage growth has dropped to its lowest level and the UK’s jobless rate has increased.

The ONS said that earnings growth in three months to September eased to 4.8% from 4.9% which is the lowest level in three months to June 2022.

In the three months to September earnings growth continues to outstrip inflation as pay rose by 2.7%.

Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said, “Growth in pay excluding bonuses eased again this month to its lowest rate in over two years.

“The number of people on payrolls fell slightly in September and while it remains up on the year, annual growth continues to slow.

“The labour force survey estimates show a different picture, however, we continue to advise caution when interpreting short-term changes in these estimates, as the improvements to data collection introduced at the beginning of the year are still feeding through.

“Job vacancies have fallen again, as they have been doing for more than two years now.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said, “While it’s encouraging to see real pay growth this month, more needs to be done to improve living standards too.

“So, from April next year, over three million of the lowest-paid workers will benefit from our increase to the national living wage.”