The UK’s unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.3 percent, according to official figures released on Tuesday.
UK unemployment rises: The Office for National Statistics stated in a statement that the unemployment rate for the three months ending in June had been 4.2 percent.
A day after Wilko, a struggling UK retailer of household goods, announced that the company’s failure to find a buyer would result in more than 10,000 employees losing their jobs, they released the data.
On Tuesday, the first round of Wilko retail closures will see the closure of 24 locations.
Tuesday brought more depressing employment news as high street bank Barclays announced it would eliminate 450 mid- to senior-level positions nationwide.
Dominic Hook, a national officer for the Unite union, called the action “unnecessary and unjustified” and claimed that it would cause other employees to worry about their job security.
He said, urging the firm to reconsider, “How can a profitable finance organisation such as Barclays slash over 450 staff amid a cost-of-living crisis?”
“Hundreds of families will lose their livelihoods and experience financial hardship if these plans for mandatory redundancy are implemented.”
Statistics from other sources revealed that, in the three months leading up to the end of July, the average growth in normal earnings, excluding bonuses, was 7.8%.
“UK Inflation Concerns and the Call for Sustainable Wage Growth”
Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt responded, saying, “Wage growth remains high, in part reflecting one-off payments to public sector workers, but for real wages to grow sustainably we must stick to our plan to halve inflation.”
At the beginning of 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his desire to halve UK annual inflation when it rose above 10%.
However, it is still the highest among the G7 countries at 6.8%.
In July, the employment market’s tightness continued to loosen, according to Ashley Webb, a UK economist with the Capital Economics research group.
However, wage growth “will only increase the Bank of England’s unease and supports our view that the Bank will raise interest rates once more, from the current level of 5.25 percent to a peak of 5.5 percent” at its regular policy meeting the following week.