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BRITAIN-ECONOMY-UNEMPLOYMENT
UK employment hits record high despite Brexit uncertainty
LONDON, April 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – British employment has reached a
record-high level, shaking off stubborn uncertainty surrounding the UK’s
departure from the European Union, official data showed on Tuesday.
“The level of employment in the UK increased by 179,000 to a record high of
32.72 million people in the three months to February 2019,” the Office for
National Statistics said in a statement.
That was the highest level since records began in 1971, according to the
ONS.
The unemployment rate remained at 3.9 percent, the lowest level since
1975.
“The UK job market remained encouragingly buoyant in February, with a
combination of rising employment and falling unemployment pushing pay up at
one of the fastest rates seen since the global financial crisis over 10 years
ago,” noted Christopher Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.
“However, forward-looking survey data suggest that demand for staff has
cooled, which will likely feed through to weaker jobs growth and easing pay
pressures in coming months.”
European leaders last week agreed with British Prime Minister Theresa May
to delay Brexit until October 31 at the latest, saving the continent from a
chaotic no-deal departure.
The delay avoids a possible economic calamity on both sides of the Channel
but does little to resolve the political morass that has seen May’s control
over her MPs and cabinet gradually slip.
Following Tuesday’s jobs data, analysts at Capital Economics said Brexit
was “not applying the brakes to hiring” just yet in the UK.
“However, we suspect that this could mark the peak of employment growth as
the Brexit uncertainty reached its crescendo… and the surveys turned down
sharply in March,” they added in a note to clients.
BSS/AFP/RY/1635 hrs