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| Jobless rate down but wage growth slows | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| UK unemployment fell back to its lowest rate in 41 years in the three months to January, according to new figures. | |
| The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate fell to 4.7%, a level that has not been lower since the summer of 1975. | |
| However, wage growth has slowed significantly to 2.2% from 2.6% in the previous three-month period. | |
| Although pay is rising above the rate of inflation, currently 1.8%, it is lower than economists expected. | |
| Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "The latest UK labour market data suggest that average earnings growth is not picking up alongside inflation, resulting in a squeeze on real wage growth." | |
| But he expects that a shortage of workers will push up pay in the coming months. | |
| Following last week's Budget, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that wages were unlikely to be higher in the next five years. | |
| He said: "On current forecasts average earnings will be no higher in 2022 than they were in 2007. Fifteen years without a pay rise. This is completely unprecedented." |