Details of the February 2016 UK labour market report 16 March 2016
- Prior -14.8k. Revised to -28.4k
- Claimant count rate 2.1% vs 2.2% exp. Prior 2.2%. Revised to 2.1%
- Jan ILO unemployment rate 5.1% vs 5.1% exp. Prior 5.1%
- Jan average weekly earnings 2.1% vs 2.0% exp 3m y/y. Prior 1.9%
- Ex-bonus 2.2% vs 2.1% exp 3m y/y. Prior 2.0%
- Employment change 116k vs 144k exp 3m/3m. Prior 205k
A half decent report. Good drop in claims and good revision. Wages rose but didn't break the bank. The ONS are throwing out that the rise in earnings may have bonus related noise, which is a usual point for that time of year. As usual the private sector were the ones with their wallets out and pay rose 2.3% vs 2.1% in Dec. The public sector rose 1.3%, the same as Dec.
UK Jan wages
The unemployment rate staying put at 5.1% is probably the most disappointing part of the report. It would have been nice to see that fall again. Still, the jobs market is plodding along and that shifts focus to the other parts of the economy.
The pound is virtually unchanged and pretty much slept through the number 1.4112 trades. There's not much here for the BOE to get excited about.
UK Jan unemployment rate
Update: Just reading through the data and the ONS has revised the claimant count from 2013 to Jan 2016 so that's why there's such a big difference.