Details of the December 2015 UK labour market data report 20 January 2016

  • Prior +3.9k. Revised to -2.2k
  • Nov ILO unemployment rate 5.1% vs 5.2% exp. Prior 5.2%
  • Average weekly earnings 2.0% vs 2.1% exp 3m y/y. Prior 2.4%
  • Earnings ex-bonus 1.9% vs 1.8% exp. Prior 2.0%
  • Employment change 267k vs 235k exp 3m/3m. Prior 207k

A mixed report as claims and unemployment falls. The big deal is that wages missed. The UK jobs market is solid but there's more it could do to tighten up and wages need to keep rising before the BOE look to hike

In the pay breakdown there was some better news as public sector pay rose 1.5% v s1.3% in Oct. Private sector pay rose 2.0% vs 2.2% prior. Public sector pay is always a laggard and you'll never see huge gains but constant positive numbers is a great step forward. Note also the single month wages y/y rose 2.1% vs 1.6% prior

UK

UK average weekly earnings 3m y/y