FX.co ★ UK Jobless Rate Rises In January

The unemployment rate in the UK saw an increase in January and the growth pace of wages also decelerated, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) revealed that the jobless rate rose from 3.8 percent in the previous period to 3.9 percent in the three months leading up to January. The rate was initially expected to remain stable at 3.8 percent.

Meanwhile, data reported that the employment rate reached 75.0 percent.

In the three months leading up to January, average earnings, excluding bonuses, increased by 6.1 percent. Despite predictions of the rate soaring to 6.2 percent, equal to the rate seen in the previous period, it fell short.

If bonuses are taken into account, earnings experienced a 5.6 percent rise, which is slightly less than the economists' projection of 5.7 percent.

The report also noted a decline of 43,000 in the estimated number of job vacancies. Dropping to 908,000 in the three months leading up to February, this marks the 20th consecutive period of decrease.

However, the number of individuals on payrolls rose by 20,000 month-on-month to a total of 30.4 million in February.

The data also showed that there was an increase in claimant count by 16,800 from the previous month, bringing the total to 1.58 million.

Moreover, labour disputes resulted in the loss of 203,000 working days in January.