British pay grew at its slowest pace in more than two years in the three months to August and vacancies fell again, according official data that will probably be welcomed by the Bank of England as it considers when to cut interest rates again.
Average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, were 4.9% higher than a year earlier in the three months to the end of August, the Office for National Statistics said, in line with the median forecasts of economists polled by Reuters.
Sterling was little changed against the U.S. dollar shortly after the figures were published.
The BoE cut borrowing costs in August but kept them on hold at its September meeting, saying it wanted to see further signs that inflation pressures were abating.
Data due on Wednesday is expected to show Britain’s consumer prices index fell to 1.9% in September, below the BoE’s 2% target, although core inflation is likely to be stronger, according to the economists polled by Reuters.
On Monday, investors were putting a more than 80% chance on a rate cut by the BoE in its next monetary policy announcement on Nov. 7.
Excluding bonuses, private sector pay growth slowed to 4.8% in the three months to August, leaving it on track to meet the BoE’s forecast of an increase of 4.8% for the third quarter as a whole.
The ONS also said the estimated number of vacancies in the UK fell by 34,000 in the three months to September to 841,000, adding to signs of a cooling in the labour market.
(Reporting by William Schomberg and Sachin Ravikumar）
