UK pay ex-bonuses rises at fastest since 2008, jobless rate edges up
FILE PHOTO - A woman looks at job advertisements in a window in Leicester, central England September 14, 2011. REUTERS/Darren Staples
LONDON (Reuters) - British workers’ underlying pay rose at the fastest pace in nearly a decade during the three months to the end of September, but the unemployment rate inched up for the first time this year, official figures showed on Tuesday.
Average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, rose by 3.2 percent on the year in the third quarter of 2018, their biggest rise since the fourth quarter of 2008 and gathering pace from a rise of 3.1 percent in the three months to August.
However, the jobless rate picked up to 4.1 percent versus economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll for it to hold steady at 4.0 percent.
Reporting by David Milliken and Alistair Smout, editing by Andy Bruce
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