Wages show fastest rise in almost a decade

Wages rose at the fastest pace in nearly a decade in the three months to September, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

Compared with a year earlier, wages excluding bonuses, rose by 3.2% – the biggest rise since the end of 2008 and up slightly on the previous quarter.

The unemployment total went up for the first time this year, rising by 21,000 in the same period to 1.38 million.

However, the ONS warned that real wage growth was below the 2015 level.

Adjusting for inflation average weekly earnings increased by 0.9% excluding bonuses.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.1% from 4.0% in the period from July to September, mainly because of an increase in the number of men out of work.

However, the employment total continued to increase – going up by 23,000 to a record high of 32.4 million.

The unemployment rate of UK nationals (4.2%) was higher than that of EU nationals from the other 27 member countries (3.5%).