The National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement that the unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent, compared to 3.9 percent in March.
But average earnings rose by 7.2%, from the revised 6.8% from the March data, indicating that the Bank of England will remain under pressure to raise interest rates.
“Although there has been a new decline in the number of people who are neither working nor looking for work…the number of people out of the labor market due to long-term illness continues to rise, setting a new record,” said Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the National Bureau of Statistics.
He added, “In monetary terms, basic wages are currently growing at the fastest pace since current records began, except for the period affected by the epidemic.”
“However, the rise in wages is still lower than the rate of inflation,” he added.
Morgan said the number of working people exceeded the pre-pandemic level for the first time, marking a new high.
He considered that “the biggest driver of job growth in recent times…is health and social care, followed by the hospitality sector.”
And data from the British Office of National Statistics showed, during the past month, that annual consumer price inflation in the country slowed at the fastest pace in nearly 30 years, to 8.7 percent in April, from 10.1 percent in March, and it is also the first time that inflation fell. to the single digits since last August.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the annual rate to fall to 8.2% in April, farther away from October’s 41-year high of 11.1%, but still weighing heavily on the purchasing power of workers whose salaries are growing smaller.
On the other hand, a Bloomberg survey predicted that the consumer price index in Britain would drop to 8.2 percent during April 2023 from 10.1 percent last March, which represents the largest drop in the annual inflation rate in more than 30 years, and gives British households a chance to catch a breath. Facing the worst inflation in generations.
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