Key events
Introduction: UK unemployment rises while regular wage growth slows; bitcoin breaks $89,000
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Unemployment in the UK has gone up, while regular wage growth slowed to the lowest rate in more than two years, according to official figures.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% between July and September, up from 4% in the June to August quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics. Pay excluding bonuses climbed by 4.8% year-on-year, the lowest since April to June 2022.
Including bonuses, wage growth picked up to 4.3% from 3.8%, although this was affected by one-off payments made to the civil service last summer.
Liz McKeown, the ONS’s director of economic statistics, said:
Growth in pay excluding bonuses eased again this month to its lowest rate in over two years. Pay growth including bonuses increased, but for recent periods these figures have been affected by last year’s one-off payments made to public sector workers.
Job vacancies have fallen again, as they have been dong for more than two years now. However, the total still remains a little above where it was before the pandemic.
The number of job vacancies fell to its lowest level since May 2021.
The pound fell by 0.5% to $1.2806, the lowest since mid-August, after the figures were released.
Paul Daley, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said:
Overall, there is little here to suggest the Bank needs to worry that the loosening in the labour market and the easing in underlying wage growth are coming to an end.
Asian shares tumbled amid disappointment over Beijing’s latest economic stimulus package, and as investors worried about president-elect Donald Trump’s policies.
Meanwhile, bitcoin jumped to a new high of more than $89,000.
The Shanghai market lost 1.3% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid by 3%.
The price of bitcoin, the world’s best-known cryptocurrency, has more than doubled from $37,000 a year ago, as markets are expecting lighter regulation of crypto currencies under a Trump administration. Bitcoin touched $89,982 and is now trading around $89,300.
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