UK unemployment rate falls to 7.1%

Jobless rate falls to within whisker of Bank of England's forward guidance threshold for considering interest rate rise

The Bank of England sent a clear message that it has no immediate plans to raise interest rates, despite a shock fall in the unemployment rate close to the level at which the Bank said it would consider a hike.

Policymakers sought to ease fears of a rise after Britain's jobless rate fell sharply to 7.1% in the three months to November from 7.4%. It was a far bigger drop than economists were expecting, with most forecasting a modest fall to 7.3%.

Ian McCafferty, a member of the Bank's rate setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said that although economic recovery was underway and unemployment was falling, inflation was back at the Bank's 2% target, easing the pressure to raise rates.

"It is therefore worth restating that the 7% unemployment level is only a threshold, not a trigger, and that the MPC sees no immediate need to increase interest rates even if 7% were to be hit in the near future," he said in a speech in Nottingham on Wednesday evening.

His comments reiterated those in the minutes of the MPC's January policy meeting, which showed there would be no rush to raise rates. The committee said that when the time did come to raise rates, it would do so "only gradually".

It suggested it would not raise rates until the Bank it had seen a pick up in wages growth and a more established recovery. Economists including those at the EY Item Club are not expecting a hike before mid 2015. Interest rates have been at an all-time low of 0.5% since March 2009.

"By then, we expect the recovery to have broadened out into exports and investment and real wages should be growing again. The consumer needs that time to get its breath back following all the heavy lifting undertaken in recent quarters," said Andrew Goodwin, senior economic adviser to the Item Club.

When the Bank's governor Mark Carney announced the introduction of so-called "forward guidance" on rates last summer, he was not expecting the jobless rate to fall to 7% until 2016. The Bank has since updated its view, but its most recent forecast suggested the rate would not be reached until the second half of 2015. In reality it now looks possible it will fall to that level next month.

Economists said the Bank's next move would most likely be to announce a change to its forward guidance policy when it next updates its forecasts in the February inflation report, possibly by lowering the threshold to 6.5% unemployment and introducing a supplementary wage rise measure.

"Overall we gain the impression that the MPC does not want to raise rates soon and that (perhaps) it will bring its unemployment threshold down, possibly next month," said Philip Shaw, economist at Investec.

The total number of people out of work in Britain fell by 167,000 to 2.32 million in the three months to November according to the Office for National Statistics data.

The number of people claiming jobless benefits in the UK also fell by 24,000 to a near five-year low of 1.25 million in December.

The employment minister, Esther McVey, said: "It's clear that the government's long-term economic plan to get people off benefits and into work so they can secure their future is proving successful."

Employment meanwhile jumped by 280,000 to 30.15 million – the biggest quarterly rise since records began in 1971 – driven mainly by a rise in people with full-time work.

Commenting on the increase, David Cameron said: "More jobs means more security, peace of mind and opportunity for the British people."

Despite the rise in employment, wage growth was flat at 0.9% between September and November, less than half the current 2% rate of inflation. People in the UK earned £447 a week on average in November, before tax and excluding bonuses. People worked an average 32.2 hour week over the three months, compared with 31.1hours in the previous quarter.

MPC members said the slow pace of wage growth in the UK appeared to reflect weak growth in productivity, the January minutes showed.

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City leads way in economic growth race

Optimism throughout financial services sector rose at its fastest rate since the start of the survey in 1989 in the final three months last year

An upsurge in optimism, business and jobs is turning the City into the fastest growing part of the economy it is shown in new survey data released on Monday.

Optimism throughout the financial services sector rose at its fastest rate since the start of the survey in 1989 in the final three months last year. For the fifth quarter in a row profitability was higher and employment is growing at its fastest rate since 2007.

City firms recruited another 10,000 staff in the October-December period and are forecast to add a further 15,000 to the job total in the first quarter this year. That would take employment to 1.16m, only 52,000 below the peak in the Square Mile at the end of 2008 just before the financial crisis began to bite.

The latest insight into the way recovery is feeding into the financial services sector, produced by the CBI and business advisers PwC, shows strong volume growth in all key customer categories with the exception of financial institutions and a notable pick-up in activity with industrial and commercial companies.

There are no signs of a slowdown with the volume of business predicted to grow further in the first quarter and profits set for “robust” improvement. For the first time since the financial crisis all sectors plan to increase capital spending over the next year.

Fee, commission or premium income jumped 36pc in the quarter, the fastest since June 2012. Trading income was up 20pc and while total costs rose 23pc they were almost cancelled out by volume growth.

Banking optimism is continuing to “rise briskly” with business volumes heading for strong first quarter growth. The survey suggests banks are beginning to get a grip on new regulations which are seen as “less of an obstacle” to growth and priorities shifting to retaining customers.

Building societies are feeling more optimistic about the business outlook than at any time during the past seven years after a lower than expected growth in volumes in the final quarter last year.

Private investors provided a business fillip for finance houses while optimism among life insurers jumped faster than at any time over the past decade. General insurance is enjoying a gradual recovery in confidence and although optimism among insurance brokers has risen moderately business volumes increased at their fastest in four years.

Matthew Fell, CBI director for competitive markets, feels the survey shows “things are starting to look more ‘normal’ after five years of volatility.” He is encouraged by the strength of longer term confidence indicators with marketing spend, employment and investment rising strongly.

Kevin Burrowes, head of PwC’s financial services operations, said regulation is now seen as a lesser obstacle to growth in the banking sector and although compliance remains a major concern “it is slightly less all-consuming than it was.”

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