Unemployment rate falls to 4.3% as wages stagnate
Unemployment in the UK fell by 75,000 in the three months to July, official figures show, bringing the jobless rate down to 4.3%.
This is a fresh 42-year low, but a squeeze on real incomes continues.
Wages in the period were 2.1% higher than a year earlier, little changed from previous months’ growth rates.
With inflation hitting 2.9% in August, its joint highest in more than five years, wages are failing to keep up. In real terms, wages dropped by 0.4%.