Xinhua, London :
The British unemployment total rose for the first time in more than two years, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Thursday.
According to the ONS, there were 1.85 million unemployed people in the March-to-May period. This was 15,000 more than for the three months to February 2015, the first quarterly increase since January to March 2013.
British unemployment rate rose to 5.6 percent in the three months to May 2015, from 5.5 percent in the three months to April 2015. But it is lower than the 6.5 percent recorded in the same period a year earlier.
The employment rate for those aged 16 to 64 for the period from March to May was 73.3 percent, similar to that in the previous quarter.
British average earning increased too. Comparing March to May 2015 with a year earlier, pay for employees in Britain increased by 3.2 percent including bonuses and by 2.8 percent excluding bonuses.
Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the soft tone of the labor market figures should temper expectations of a near-term interest rate rise following yesterday’ s relatively hawkish comments by some Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members of the British central bank.
“Although the fall in unemployment may be a one-off, slower jobs growth would be consistent with other indications that productivity is finally picking up,” said Redwood.
“There is no need for the MPC to panic about wage growth yet, especially given that the softer labour market activity could act as a brake on wages,” Redwood added.
The British unemployment total rose for the first time in more than two years, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Thursday.
According to the ONS, there were 1.85 million unemployed people in the March-to-May period. This was 15,000 more than for the three months to February 2015, the first quarterly increase since January to March 2013.
British unemployment rate rose to 5.6 percent in the three months to May 2015, from 5.5 percent in the three months to April 2015. But it is lower than the 6.5 percent recorded in the same period a year earlier.
The employment rate for those aged 16 to 64 for the period from March to May was 73.3 percent, similar to that in the previous quarter.
British average earning increased too. Comparing March to May 2015 with a year earlier, pay for employees in Britain increased by 3.2 percent including bonuses and by 2.8 percent excluding bonuses.
Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the soft tone of the labor market figures should temper expectations of a near-term interest rate rise following yesterday’ s relatively hawkish comments by some Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members of the British central bank.
“Although the fall in unemployment may be a one-off, slower jobs growth would be consistent with other indications that productivity is finally picking up,” said Redwood.
“There is no need for the MPC to panic about wage growth yet, especially given that the softer labour market activity could act as a brake on wages,” Redwood added.
