Unemployment rate rises due to Brexit wobble as firms shelve investments – but number in work increases too
Number of jobless rose 10,000 to 1.66million in the three months to the end of August in the first unemployment increase of 2016
A BREXIT wobble was last night blamed for the first rise in unemployment since the beginning of the year.
Official figures said the number of jobless rose 10,000 to 1.66 million in the three months to end of August.
Experts put the increase down to companies shelving investment decisions in the run-up to the Referendum.
They added it would raise fresh fears of a wage squeeze next year as firms wouldn’t have to up pay offers to fill vacancies.
But economists called for calm, given the number of people in work also rose in the three months – by 106,000 to almost 32 million.
Scott Bowman of Capital Economics said Britain was “weathering” the worst of the fallout from the Referendum.
ONS statistician Nick Palmer said: “These figures show that employment continued to grow over the summer and vacancies remain at high levels, suggesting continuing confidence in the economy.
“While there was also a small rise in the headline unemployment level, that was accompanied by more people actively seeking work.”
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Big City accountants Ernst & Young at the weekend warned the jobless total would rise by 400,000 over the next two years.
Yesterday’s figures revealed average earnings were rising at 2.3 per cent – still more than double the rate of inflation.