MNI 5 Things: UK Total AWE Hits 3.0% Mark; Productivity Slumps

By Jai Lakhani, Jamie Satchi 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.

     - Total wage growth hit the symbolic 3.0% mark in the three months to

September, a three-year high, in line with the Bank of England's forecast.

Regular pay edged up 0.1pp to 3.2%, building further on August's decade high.

     - Despite earnings pressures increasing, the jobless rate ticked up 0.1pp

to 4.1 (4.09 to dp) -- the first increase since Q4 2017. It appears this rise

was driven by the fresh cohort that joined the ONS's monthly survey panel, with

a greater proportion reporting themselves as unemployed compared to the outgoing

cohort from July.

     - Flash figures published by the ONS, meanwhile, showed a UK productivity

slump in Q3. Output-per-hour, the headline number published by the ONS, fell to

-0.4 in Q3, down from +0.5 in Q2. Output-per-worker, told a slightly different

story, however, up 0.2pp to 0.5% in Q3.

     - Supporting the upward trend in wage growth, the number of EU nationals in

work in the UK fell by 132,000 in the year to Jul-Sep -- the biggest fall on

record. Supplementing this, vacancies rose to a record-high 845,000 in October.

     - Reports of labour shortages in construction and hospitality --

potentially due to falling inflows of EU workers -- did not appear to lift wage

growth in those sectors. Construction wages rose by 3.6% in the third quarter,

outpacing the broader economy, but down from more than 5% over the summer

months.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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