4.9%: United Kingdom Unemployment Rate stays unchanged in July

The United Kingdom’s (UK) ILO Unemployment Rate stayed at 4.9% in the three months to July after reporting 4.9% in the previous reading, data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday. The data came in below the market consensus of 5.0%.

Additional details of the report showed that the number of people claiming jobless benefits climbed by 27.8K in August, compared with a revised decrease of 11.8K in July and the expected 8.3K gain.

The Employment Change data came in at 67K in July against 83K recorded in June. 

Meanwhile, Average Earnings, excluding Bonus, in the UK ticked up by 3.5% three months year-over-year (3M YoY) in July versus a 3.5% growth booked previously. The market expectation was for a 3.5% print.

Another measure of wage inflation, Average Earnings, including Bonus, rose by 3.9% in the same period after increasing by 4.2% in the quarter through June (revised from 4.1%). The data matched the estimate of 3.9%.

GBP/USD reaction to the UK employment report

The British Pound (GBP) attracts some sellers in an immediate reaction to the UK employment report. At the time of writing, the GBP/USD pair is trading 0.16% lower on the day to trade at 1.3477.