Helen Chandler-Wilde: The Worst Unemployment Worry of All
A sign advertising jobs at Screwfix DIY stores at the UK Careers Fair in November
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Today we got the Office for National Statistics’s latest unemployment figures. In short they’re not looking good: joblessness rose to its highest level in nearly five years, standing at 5.1% in the three months ending in October.
The total number of employees on payrolls also fell by an above-expectation 38,000 and redundancies rose to the highest level since the pandemic, making it even likelier that the Bank of England decides to cut interest rates on Thursday.