UK unemployment held at a 42-year low in the third quarter of this year, but there are signs that the labor market is slowing as the number of people in work fell for the first time in almost a year.
The jobless rate averaged 4.3 percent from July to September, the British Office for National Statistics said yesterday.
However, employment fell by 14,000, the first decline since October last year and the biggest drop since June 2015.
Basic wage growth remained at just more than 2 percent, well below the rate of inflation, and the number people neither in work nor looking for a job rose by the most in more than seven years.
The mixed figures help to explain why the Bank of England (BOE) raised interest rates for the first time in a decade this month and why economists expect the next increase to be a year away.
For officials, including BOE Governor Mark Carney, the erosion of slack warranted higher rates. The jobless rate is below the BOE’s “equilibrium” rate and officials expect it to fall further to 4.2 percent.
However, questions remain over how the labor market will fare as the economy battles the headwinds of Brexit.
Consumer spending is already under pressure from the strain on incomes, with data to be released today forecast to show retail sales fell last month from a year earlier — the first such drop since 2013.
Basic pay in the third quarter grew an annual 2.2 percent, lagging behind an inflation rate that averaged 2.8 percent in the period. Inactivity climbed by 117,000 in the latest quarter, the most since 2010.
The good news for households is that the squeeze might be past the worst. Inflation is forecast to peak close to its current level of 3 percent, and the BOE expects real wage growth to return this year.
Output per hour rose by 0.9 percent, the most since 2011, according to a flash estimate yesterday.
However, that followed two quarters of falling productivity, meaning that over the past 12 months productivity has grown just 0.6 percent, the office said.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.2 and NT$0.3 per liter respectively, after international crude oil prices increased last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week snapped a two-week losing streak as the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine turned increasingly tense, CPC said in a statement. News that some oil production facilities in Alberta, Canada, were shut down due to wildfires and that US-Iran nuclear talks made no progress also helped push oil prices to a significant weekly gain, Formosa said
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
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