The direction is right. But the pace is still sluggish.
British unemployment fell to 7.6% during the three-month period that ended in September. That’s the lowest it’s been in three years. But the pace isn’t really anything to write home about. Essentially unemployment in the UK is where it was right after the worst of the Great Recession. Take a look.
But even so, improvement is improvement. The number of Brits claiming unemployment benefits continues to move in the right direction. It fell to 1.31 million last month.
However, there’s a flip side. While the economy as a whole may be doing better, the average Brit has been feeling a lot worse off over the last few years. After adjusting for annoyingly high inflation, UK wages have been falling sharply, which means British incomes have fallen behind counterparts on the continent. That has got to sting. Here’s a look at how inflation-adjusted earnings have been falling behind in recent years.
