UK unemployment remained at 4.9% in the three months to June, while payroll employment and vacancies declined, reinforcing signs that the jobs market remains subdued.
Early HM Revenue and Customs estimates put payrolled employees at 30.3 million in July, down 94,000, or 0.3%, from a year earlier and 13,000 on the month. The provisional July figures are subject to revision. Confirmed data for June showed payrolls falling by 78,000 year on year and 13,000 from May.
Vacancies dropped by 6,000 to 707,000 in the 3 months from May to July, the lowest total outside the pandemic period since late 2014. The Office for National Statistics said some smaller businesses were holding back on recruitment because of higher labour and other operating costs.
The employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 was 75.1%, up 0.1 percentage points on the quarter but down 0.2 points from a year earlier. Economic inactivity was unchanged at 20.9%. The ONS cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from short-term movements in the Labour Force Survey, as some volatility remains.
Regular pay growth edged up to 3.5% in the 3 months to June from 3.4% previously, while total earnings growth slowed to 4.1%. Regular wages rose 6.1% in the public sector but just 2.8% in the private sector, although the ONS said public-sector figures remained affected by the timing of pay awards.
After inflation, regular pay increased by 0.5% using the CPIH measure and by 0.7% using the CPI measure.
ING developed markets economist James Smith said: “If the UK economy really is picking up speed, then there’s little sign of it in the jobs market.”
He said public-sector hiring contrasted with continuing job losses in consumer-facing industries, while most private-sector employment was “flatlining”.
