UK wages rose by 3.4% in January, beats expectations

• The UK wages excluding bonuses rose by 3.4% y/y compared to 3.4% y/y expected.
• The UK wages including bonuses rose by 3.4% y/y compared to 3.2% y/y expected.
• The UK unemployment rate drop to a four-decade low of 3.9% in January.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday, the UK’s average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses met expectations, arriving at 3.4% 3m y/y versus 3.4% last and 3.4% expected while the gauge including bonuses came in at 3.4% 3m y/y versus 3.4% previous and 3.2% expected.

The Kingdom’s official jobless rate dropped to 3.9% in January, while the claimant count change showed a bigger-than-expected increase.

The number of people claiming jobless benefits rose sharply by 27kk in February, against expectations of a 2.7k increase and +14.2k seen previously.