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UK unemployment rises, real wage growth below 2015 levels

The number of unemployed people in the UK increased in the third quarter of 2018 and real wage growth has fallen below 2015 levels, according the Office of National Statistics.

Job Centre Plus sign
Source: Bloomberg

The number of unemployed people in the UK increased by 21,000 to 1.38 million in the three months to September, according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

The unemployment rate of UK nationals for the period stands at 4.2%, which is higher than that seen in across the 27 EU member states at 3.5%, the ONS data showed.

The level of unemployment of UK nationals decreased by 48,000 to 1.28 million in the year to September 2018.

The level of unemployment of non-UK nationals fell by 2,000 to 173,000 over the same period. Although the level of unemployment fell among non-UK nationals, it increased by 2,000 to 82,000 among EU27 nationals.

A major contributing factor to the increase in the number of unemployed people living in the UK was its rising population

The number of temporary workers in the UK reduced by 55,000 in the third quarter (Q3) of 2018 to 1.5 million.

There were more men than women in employment in the third calendar quarter of 2018. Between 2012 and the third calendar quarter of 2018, the average annual employment growth rate for women at 0.13% was higher than that for men at 0.12%.

The ONS highlighted how wages in the UK had risen at their fastest rate in nearly 10 years in the Q3 but warned that real wage growth had fallen below levels seen in 2015.

In the labour force, there are some workers who have more than one job. The latest estimates of workers with second jobs show that they increased by 4,000 to 1.12 million.

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