UK December ILO unemployment rate 4.4% vs 4.5% expected

• Prior 4.4%
• Employment change 107k vs 48k expected
• Prior 35k
• Average weekly earnings +6.0% vs +5.9% 3m/y expected
• Prior +5.6%
• Average weekly earnings ex bonus +5.9% vs +5.9% 3m/y expected
• Prior +5.6%
• January payrolls change 21k
• Prior -47k; revised to -14k

ONS continues to put a caveat in the report here as they are still improving data accuracy. At this point, it’s a feature instead of a bug given how long this has been running. In any case, the December jobless rate is seen holding steadier with payrolls also nudging up in January.

But the real standout is wages data, which continues to run hot. That is bumping up real wages (as seen above) further and won’t be too comforting for the BOE in wanting to get inflation down.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.