**MNI 5 THINGS: UK Unemployment Rate Up, First Time In A Year

--5 Things We Learned From the UK Labour Market Data

By Laurie Laird and Jamie Satchithanantham

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

data pack published Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics.

     - Defying expectations, the unemployment rate rose for the first time in a

year to 4.4%, topping Bank of England staff forecasts, despite an 88,000 rise in

employment over the fourth quarter.

     - The number of economically inactive adults declined by 109,000, the

biggest fall since the three months to November of 2015. While some found work,

unemployment rose by 46,000, the biggest increase since the three months to

February 2013, to 1.47 million.

     - Wage growth held steady but failed to accelerate as suggested it would by

the BOE in the minutes of the February MPC meeting. Total nominal earnings rose

by an annual rate of 2.5%, exceeding expectations, matching the pace of the

previous two months and was well above the low of 1.9% recorded in May. Real

wage growth, however, remains negative.

     - Productivity rose by 0.8% q/q over the fourth quarter, extending the 0.9%

rise in Q3, according to the flash estimate released Wednesday. That means

output per hour growth in H2 2017 was stronger than any two consecutive quarters

since the economic downturn.

     - Wednesday's data confirmed reports of a fall in EU workers. On a

non-seasonally adjusted basis the number of EU nationals working in the UK fell

by 29k since the three months to September. On an annual basis, which better

captures seasonal variations, the number of EU workers rose by 101k - the

smallest annual increase since Q3 2013.

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

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