UK Unemployment Rate eases to 4.1% in quarter to July, as expected

• The UK Unemployment Rate edged lower to 4.1% in three months to July.
• The Claimant Count Change for Britain came in at 23.7K in August.
• GBP/USD picks up fresh bids toward 1.3100 after mixed UK employment data.

The United Kingdom’s (UK) ILO Unemployment Rate eased to 4.1% in the three months to July, following June’s 4.2% print, the data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday. Markets expected a reading of 4.1% in the reported period.

Additional details of the report showed that the number of people claiming jobless benefits increased by 23.7K in August, compared with a revised gain of 102.3K in July, coming in below the expected 95.5K figure by a wide margin.

The Employment Change data for July arrived at 265K, as against June’s 24K.

Meanwhile, Average Earnings excluding Bonus in the UK climbed 5.1% 3M YoY in July versus a 5.4% growth seen in June. The reading aligned with the expectations of a 5.1% increase.

Another measure of wage inflation, Average Earnings including Bonus also increased by 4.0% in the same period after reporting a 4.6% growth in the quarter through June. The market forecast was for +4.1%.

GBP/USD reaction to the UK employment report

GBP/USD picks up fresh bids in a knee-jerk reaction to the mixed UK employment data. The pair is trading 0.07% higher on the day at 1.3080, as of writing.