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.
British Pound PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of British Pound (GBP) against listed major currencies today. British Pound was the strongest against the Canadian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.03% | -0.04% | -0.10% | 0.05% | -0.09% | -0.10% | -0.12% | |
| EUR | 0.03% | -0.00% | 0.02% | 0.08% | -0.06% | -0.12% | -0.09% | |
| GBP | 0.04% | 0.00% | 0.02% | 0.05% | -0.05% | -0.10% | -0.07% | |
| JPY | 0.10% | -0.02% | -0.02% | 0.05% | -0.08% | -0.12% | -0.11% | |
| CAD | -0.05% | -0.08% | -0.05% | -0.05% | -0.15% | -0.16% | -0.17% | |
| AUD | 0.09% | 0.06% | 0.05% | 0.08% | 0.15% | -0.03% | -0.02% | |
| NZD | 0.10% | 0.12% | 0.10% | 0.12% | 0.16% | 0.03% | 0.00% | |
| CHF | 0.12% | 0.09% | 0.07% | 0.11% | 0.17% | 0.02% | -0.01% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the British Pound from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent GBP (base)/USD (quote).
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
