Mixed Employment/Earnings Figures From UK

UK earnings cooled off by 0.2% for the second month in a row and new jobs fell, but the unemployment rate ticked lower as well

Skerdian Meta•Tuesday, November 12, 2019•1 min read

The UK employment and earnings report was released earlier this morning. Despite Brexit, earnings have been extremely strong in Britain, increasing by 4.0% up to July. Although they cooled off a bit in August to 3.8%, that’s still a very strong number. Today’s figures were sort of mixed though. Below are the numbers from the earnings and employment report:

UK September average weekly earnings +3.6% vs +3.8% 3m/y expected
Prior +3.8%; revised to +3.7%
Average weekly earnings (ex bonus) +3.6% vs +3.8% 3m/y expected
Prior +3.8%
ILO unemployment rate 3.8% vs 3.9% expected
Prior 3.9%
Employment change -58k vs -102k expected
Prior -52k

October jobless claims change 33.0k
Prior 21.1k; revised to 13.5k
October claimant count rate 3.4%
Prior 3.3%

Earnings cooled off once again in September to 3.6%, although this is still a very decent figure. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.8% from 3.9% previously, but employment declined by 52k, which is the biggest fall in the three months to May 2015. So, this report shows a bit of a contrast, with unemployment rate falling, but so are wages and new jobs. GBP/USD lost around 40 pips after this report.

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Skerdian Meta

Lead Analyst

Skerdian Meta Lead Analyst. Skerdian is a professional Forex trader and a market analyst. He has been actively engaged in market analysis for the past 11 years. Before becoming our head analyst, Skerdian served as a trader and market analyst in Saxo Bank's local branch, Aksioner. Skerdian specialized in experimenting with developing models and hands-on trading. Skerdian has a masters degree in finance and investment.