Britain’s unemployment rate has risen and vacancies have fallen for the ninth month in a row as the uncertain economic outlook begins to take its toll on the UK jobs market, official figures have shown.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate lifted to 3.8 per cent in the three months to February, up from 3.7 per cent in the previous three months.
Most economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged.
The data also revealed that vacancies fell by another 47,000 to 1.1 million in the three months to March.
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The ONS said this reflects “uncertainty across industries, as survey respondents continue to cite economic pressures as a factor in holding back on recruitment”.
But the figures also showed a rise in employment – to 75.8 per cent in the three months to February from 75.7 per cent in the previous three months – as more people returned to the jobs market in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.
Wage growth continues to be outstripped by soaring costs, with total pay including bonuses down by 4.1 per cent when Consumer Prices Index inflation is taken into account – this comes despite a 5.9 per cent rise in earnings, according to the ONS.
Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “With the number of people neither working nor looking for a job down again, there were rises in both those in work and those actively looking for a job.
“However, while the group outside the labour market – termed ‘economically inactive’ – fell, the number among them who were long-term sick rose to a new record high.
“Job vacancies have fallen again but remain at very high levels.
“Meanwhile, pay continues to grow more slowly than prices, so earnings are still falling in real terms, although the gap between public and private sector earnings growth continues to narrow.” - PA
