While low inflation has put more money in people’s pockets, the ONS highlighted that total pay growth had fallen sharply since last May’s high of 3.3pc.
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The number of people claiming unemployment benefits decreased by 14,800 in January from December to 760,200 persons, the lowest since 1975.
Unemployment remained at its decade-low rate of 5.1% in the three months to December, despite the number of people not in work falling by 60,000.
Average weekly wages, including bonuses, rose by 1.9 percent in the year to December, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.
He said: “While the employment rate continues to hit new highs and there are more job vacancies than ever previously recorded, earnings growth remains subdued and markedly below the recent peak of mid-2015”.
The proportion of non-UK nationals in work in this country has increased from 3.8% in 1997 to 10.2%.
This pushed the working age employment rate to 74.1pc, which was also the highest since records began in 1971.
“At a time when we are seeing the number of workless households at its lowest ever, this is further proof that our economic and welfare reforms are delivering more security and providing opportunities that give families the best chance in life”.
Minister for Pensions, Baroness Altmann said: “It’s great news that there are now more older people in employment than ever before”. The number of self-employed people here has increased by 6.3% on the year, with more than 200,000 self employed entrepreneurs now working in Wales. However, Northern Ireland and the South East still had “jobs gaps” to make up.
The figures also showed United Kingdom employers added 205,000 jobs to the economy during the three-month period, missing forecasts of 225,000 extra people in work.
With pay growth still surprisingly weak, there is little evidence that the rapid decline in the labor market slack is feeding through to stronger wage pressures yet, Ruth Miller, an economist at Capital Economics, noted.
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Of all the United Kingdom nations, Wales saw the greatest fall in unemployment compared with the previous three months.
