UK unemployment and wage growth have both risen more than expected in the latest set of official data, while job vacancies continued to fall.
The official ILO unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in the three months to the end of September, up from 4.0% in the reading a month ago, and higher than the 4.1% that economists expected.
Average weekly earnings also grew 4.3%, the Office for National Statistics revealed, which was higher than a month ago, where pay growth was revised up to 3.9% from 3.8%, and higher than the 3.9% average forecast.
The ONS said the sharper rise in wages was down to one-off payments made to the civil service in July and August 2023.
Excluding bonuses, wages were up 4.8%, down from 4.9% a month ago to the lowest rate in over two years, but not quite as much as the market expected.
Vacancies fell to 831,000 in the three months to October 2024, continuing a decline seen over the past two years.
In more timely data, the ONS revealed the claimant count rate for October remained at 4.7%, with a jobless claims change of 26.7K, versus last month's data which was revised down from 27.9K to 10.1K.
ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said that while the number of people on payrolls fell slightly in September, annual growth continues to slow.
"The Labour Force Survey estimates show a different picture, however, we continue to advise caution when interpreting short-term changes in these estimates, as the improvements to data collection introduced at the beginning of the year are still feeding through."
She said the job vacancies total "still remains a little above where it was before the pandemic".
However, the Resolution Foundation noted that vcacancy rates - being the proportion of jobs that are unfilled - are now below pre-pandemic levels overall.
Deutsche Bank economist Sanjay Raja said "the data continued to highlight a steady loosening in labour market conditions", with wage growth slowing and employment falling.
"Indeed, there are some cracks appearing in the labour market – even before Budget measures start to bite," he said, with vacancies down for a 30th consecutive month and the Labour Force Survey – "as unreliable as it may be" – showing a near 100k increase in the unemployment level over the three months to September.
The more real-time HMRC payroll data showed a third consecutive month of falling payrolls – putting the cumulative drop between August and October at -42k.
Raja said the data "won’t move the dial too much" for the Bank of England heading into the December rates meeting, as wage growth was broadly in line with expectations.