Pay growth slows to weakest in a year despite fall in joblessness.

The UK unemployment rate fell to 4% in the
three months to June.
Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Pay growth in Britain has slowed to its weakest in almost a year despite a fall in the jobless rate to a fresh 43-year low and the biggest annual drop in workers from the EU since modern records began more than two decades ago.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed wage inflation cooling in the second quarter of 2018 even though unemployment fell from 4.2% to 4.0% – its lowest level since the winter of 1974-5.

The trend in earnings confounded predictions from the Bank of England that a tighter labour market would intensify pay pressures and brought Threadneedle Street’s decision to raise interest rates earlier this month under fresh scrutiny.

Full story at Yahoo News.

Larry Elliott and Julia Kollewe.