By Ed Frankl
Wage growth in the U.K. cooled in the three months to May, after months of strong recent rises, keeping an August interest-rate cut in play at the Bank of England.
Average earnings, excluding bonuses, between March and May were 5.7% higher than a year earlier, down from 6.0% in the three months to April, according to data from the Office for National Statistics published Thursday. That matched a consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
The BOE, which next meets at the start of August, is concerned that wages could drive inflation higher, especially in the labor-intensive services sector. Annual inflation for June came in at 2.0%, a little hotter than expected, in data published Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.4% in the three months to May, the ONS said, having moved higher from a recent low of 3.6% in August 2022.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-18-24 0231ET
