ING: UK Employment - FJElite

Nothing particularly earth-shattering in the latest UK jobs figures. Payrolled employment is down a touch - though this masks big differences between government (which is still actively hiring), consumer services (where job numbers are consistently falling and the pace of decline is getting worse) and the remaining private sector, which is flatlining. The unemployment rate is up a touch, though the ONS has already revealed there are temporary sampling issues with the labour force survey underpinning it (on top of the well-publicised existing problems), so I'd take that data with a pinch of salt. Private sector pay growth remains below 3%, though the latest month's data was a touch hotter. This is probably the floor for wage growth - and it is actually a touch higher than 3% when you strip out some quirks in the data. Still, the basic story is the same - the jobs market remains cool, and wage pressures are fairly minimal It suggests little impetus for the Bank of England to hike rates this year.