UK: Unemployment Rate to rise to 5.2% – TD Securities

Previewing next week's key macroeconomic data releases and events from the UK, TD Securities analysts said that they expect the Unemployment Rate to rise to 5.2% from 5%.

Key quotes

"We didn't see any obvious weakness in the Nov data from Lockdown 2.0, so see no need for a rebound in December. Plus seasonal hiring was likely weaker than usual, with hospitality still severely curtailed even while non-essential retail was able to briefly re-open. So that should put upward pressure on SA unemployment."

"British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to announce plans to exit the current lockdown. It seems fairly certain that schools are going to re-open on 8 March, and we expect non-essential retail to re-open in April and hospitality in May. We think that the re-opening is going to be on the slower side compared to some of the more hawkish headlines that have been floated over the last couple of weeks."