People walk over London Bridge looking at a view of Tower Bridge in the City of London financial district in London, Britain, October 25, 2023. REUTERS/ Susannah Ireland/file photo Acquire Licensing Rights Summary Companies UK wage growth cools more than expected in Reuters poll Regular pay slowdown is sharpest in almost 2 years BoE set to keep interest rates at 15-year high this week Vacancies drop again but still higher than pre-pandemic LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – British wage growth slowed by the most in almost two years, official data showed on Tuesday, but pay is probably still rising too fast for the Bank of England to relax its tough stance against cutting interest rates. Along with other signs of a cooling of the inflationary heat in the labour market, earnings excluding bonuses were 7.3% higher in the three months to October than a year earlier, down from a growth rate of 7.8% in the three months to September. Advertisement · Scroll to continue The fall was the sharpest since the three months to November 2021, the Office for National Statistics said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast wage growth of 7.4%. “While annual growth in earnings remains high in cash terms, there are some signs that wage pressure might be easing overall,” Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said. Britain’s economy is stagnating and some analysts have said it could go into a shallow recession over the coming months, similar to the risk faced by other European nations. Advertisement · Scroll to continue But many employers are struggling to fill vacancies after the British workforce contracted sharply during the pandemic, and because of post-Brexit restrictions on workers from the European Union. “The pay data is clearly now moving in the right direction from the perspective […]
Click here to visit source. UK pay growth slows but BoE seen keeping rates high