The UK unemployment rate has edged up unexpectedly and vacancies have fallen for the ninth straight month in a sign that the uncertain economic outlook is impacting Britain's jobs market, the German Press Agency reported. The latest official figures showed a surprise rise in the unemployment rate to 3.8% in the three months to February, up from 3.7% in the previous three months and the highest since the second quarter of 2022. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revealed that vacancies fell by another 47,000 to 1.1 million in the three months to March. The increase in the unemployment rate came as 49,000 more people were recorded as unemployed, bringing the figure to 1.3 million in the three months to February. But the figures also showed a rise in the employment rate -- to 75.8% in the three months to February from 75.7% in the previous three months -- as more people returned to the job market in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. Wage growth continues to be outstripped by soaring costs, with total pay including bonuses down by 4.1% when Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation is taken into account; this, despite a 5.9% rise in earnings, according to the ONS. Regular pay excluding bonuses also continued to rise -- up by 6.6%, but down by 3.4% with CPI inflation taken into account. Public sector wage growth remains far behind that in the private sector, at 5.3% on average excluding bonuses, in the three months, though it has picked up, helping to narrow the gap.
