The Pound (GBP) was little changed against the Euro (EUR) and US Dollar (USD) on Wednesday as wage growth data took the shine off of a report which showed that unemployment fell to a new six-year low of 6.5%.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the jobless rate fell to 6.5% in the second quarter of the year suggesting that the UK’s labour market is continuing to strengthen.
The data shows that the number of people in work in the UK climbed to 929,000 in the past year- the largest increase seen for 40 years.
The employment rate now equals the 73.1% record set in February 2005 and since records began in 1971 it has never been higher.
The data adds to the pressure growing on the Bank of England to raise interest rates before the end of the year.
The number of people out of work dropped by 121,000 in the second quarter and the number of people claiming jobless benefit fell by 36,300 in June. The figure for May was also revised to show that the number of claimants also dropped in that month as well.
Normally such positive news would send the Pound sharply higher but that did not occur on Wednesday as disappointing wage growth data weighed upon any gains.
Wage growth continues to lag behind inflation as the ONS said that in the three months through May total pay including bonus payments rose by just 0.3%.
‘For March to May 2014, regular pay for employees in Great Britain was 0.7% higher than a year earlier. This was the lowest annual growth rate since records begin in 2001 and reflects low pay growth across a wide range of industrial sectors,’ said the ONS.
The figure is the worst growth figure seen since the financial crisis. Economists had been expecting a figure of 0.5%.
Pound (GBP) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Pound Sterling,
,US Dollar,1.7134 ,
Pound Sterling,,Euro,1.2642 ,
Pound Sterling,,Australian Dollar,1.8326 ,
Pound Sterling,,New Zealand Dollar,1.9693 ,
US Dollar,,Pound Sterling,0.5836 ,
Euro,, Pound Sterling ,0.7906 ,
Australian Dollar,, Pound Sterling ,0.5451 ,
New Zealand Dollar,,Pound Sterling,0.5075 ,
[/table]
Comments are closed.