LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s unemployment rate fell unexpectedly to 5.0% in the three months to January, when the country entered a new COVID lockout, official figures showed Tuesday, under forecast a rise to 5.2% in Reuters poll.
Separate official data based on tax records showed a 68,000 increase in the number of employees on business payments in February from January, although the total number is 693,000 lower than a year before the outbreak of the pandemic.
“Of the decline since then, nearly two-thirds have been among children under 25, more than half have been in hospitality, and nearly a third have been in London,” said the Office’s head of economic statistics. of National Statistics, Sam Beckett. .
Average wage growth rose to 4.8%, the highest level since March 2008, although this reflects higher job losses in lower paid sectors such as retail and hospitality, rather than pay. higher for people who are still working.
Since January non-essential shops and most businesses open to the public have been closed in England to delay the spread of more infectious variants of COVID, with similar measures in other parts of the United Kingdom .
The rapid rollout of vaccines has greatly reduced new infections and allowed English pupils to return to school this month. Shops are expected to open next month, but hosting restrictions will last until at least the end of June.
Last month, the government extended furlough support – which currently pays one in five workers’ salaries – until the end of September. Without furlough, Britain’s unemployment rate would be much higher.
ONS data also indicated that the number of foreign-born workers in the last quarter of 2020 was half a million lower than the previous year, based on a study of pay data.
Various labor market survey data from last month showed that in 2020 there were more foreign workers – with around a million overseas-born residents leaving in total – although the ONS said care must be taken with the figures as they were not designed to measure flow migration.
Reporting by David Milliken, edited by Estelle Shirbon