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United Kingdom jobless total falls to 1.63 million

Job vacancies were up 3,000 to 752,000 between June and August, which includes two months after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

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Across the country, the figures showed the employment rate remained at a record high of 74.5 per cent, with 31.8 million people in work in the three months to July – 174,000 more than the previous quarter.

But growth in wages slowed, possibly signalling tougher times ahead for households.

The number of people in work in the United Kingdom rose by 174,000, taking the employment rate to a new record high of 74.5%, the Office for National Statistics said.

In July, the jobless rate briefly touched 4.7 percent, its lowest rate since September 2005.

The Bank of England has signalled that it is likely to cut interest rates further in November, although economists are warning that the recent run of strong economic data could cause it to revisit that. The ONS is cautioning people against reading too much into a single month of data.

In August, the claimant count, including Jobseeker’s Allowance, jumped by 2,400 from the previous month to 771,000.

Economists taking part in the Reuters poll had expected the number of benefit claimants to rise by 1,800.

Average weekly earnings including bonuses increased by 2.3% on a year ago, down slightly from the previous report.

“However, it still looks likely to be increasingly pressurized by mounting uncertainties over the coming months”, he said, adding that the softer earnings growth in July “fuels suspicion that companies will look to clamp down on workers’ pay” in the face of imported inflation, which will then prove a double weight on consumers’ purchasing power and hence consumer spending.

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Excluding bonuses, earnings rose by 2.1% year-on-year against expectations for a 2.2% rise and slower than in the three months to June.

UK jobs market tipped to have stayed resilient post-Brexit vote, but experts warn of early signs of trouble ahead