UK Jobless Rate Rises Further - Largest Annual Rise Since Finc'l Crisis

OCT-DEC LFS JOBLESS RATE 5.1% VS 5.0%

OCT-DEC AVG TOTAL EARNINGS +4.7% VS +3.7% PRIOR

OCT-DEC AVG EARNINGS EX-BONUS +4.1% VS +3.6% PRIOR

JAN CLAIMANT COUNT DOWN 20,000 to 2,597,100

The UK's jobless rate ticked up again in Dec to 5.1% following Nov's reading of 5.0% and coming in in line with expectations (BBG: 5.1%). The ONS noted that the unemployment rate showed the largest annual rise since the financial crisis. The employment rate edged down to 75.0%, while the inactivity rate was unchanged at 20.9% in Dec. More up-to-date PAYE data showed an increase in payrolled employees by 83,000 in Jan compared to Dec following an upwardly revised figure for Dec, hence marking the second successive increase. Since Feb 2020 there were 726,000 fewer people in payrolled employment and around three-fifth of them were under-25s according to new ONS data. The redundancy rate eased slightly in Dec to 12.3% on a quarterly basis, after rising to 14.2% in Nov. Vacancies are recovering further in Dec, rising by 64,000 on the quarter to 599,000. However, vacancies remain below the pre-crisis level. Actual weekly hours worked improved to 30.2 in Dec, up from 30.1 seen in Nov. Total and regular pay slowed sharply at the beginning of the crisis before it recovered towards the end of the year as bonus payments had been delayed. In real terms, total pay, at 3.8%, is now growing faster than inflation, albeit skewed by composition effects.