MNI 5 Things: UK Q4 Employment Up, But Clouds Forming>

By Les Commons and Laurie Laird

     LONDON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the UK labour 

market data published Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics. 

     - Employment jumped by a higher-than-expected 167,000 in the 

fourth quarter, but experimental statistics suggested a dramatic fall 

in employment in December, when the economy contracted by 0.4%. 

     - Real earnings continued to accelerate, even as nominal earnings 

stalled, suggesting that improved purchasing power is the result of 

falling inflation, rather than improving wage settlements. 

     - The Bank of England -- long optimistic on the prospect 

for wage acceleration -- highlighted a slowdown in nominal wage 

growth and a "softening" of the labour market in minutes of the February 

Monetary Policy Committee meeting.  

     - Manufacturing wages fell in real terms, with nominal pay 

increasing by an annual rate of just 1.6% in the final month of 2018, 

well below the inflation rate of 2.1% in December. 

     - Productivity continued to disappoint, slipping by an annual rate 

of 0.2% in Q4, reversing a 0.2% year-on-year gain in Q3.

-London bureau: 44 (0) 203 865 3812; email: ukeditorial@marketnews.com 

[TOPICS: M$B$$$,MABDS$,MAUDR$]