- Nick Palmer, ONS statistician
The UK unemployment rate failed to decline as economists had expected and remained unchanged at a decade low in the final quarter of 2015, despite the number of people applying for unemployment benefits plunged to the lowest level in 40 years. The jobless rate remained at 5.1% between October and December, with unemployment falling by 60,000 to 1.69 million people in the reported month. More than 31.4 million people are in work, the highest figure since records began in 1971. Wages excluding bonuses increased above predictions and hit 2%, while pay excluding bonuses failed to climb as high as expected, only reaching 1.9%, the lowest level since February last year.
Meanwhile, Britain's inflation climbed to the highest level in a year in January as an increase in alcohol and clothing prices pushed up the cost of living. The annual consumer price index rose to 0.3% in January, up from 0.2% in the prior month, according to the Office for National Statistics. Alcohol and tobacco were the main contributors to the increase as they jumped 1.3% compared with January 2015. The ONS reported that inflation also rose as fuel and food prices declined less than they did a year ago. Core inflation, which strips out volatile components such as energy and food, slowed to 1.2%. Inflation is predicted to edge up slowly this year, as the impact of global oil plunge drops out of the headline rate.
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