<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK labour market showed signs of stabilization in February, with steady unemployment and stronger-than-expected job growth, even as rising energy costs threaten to weigh on the economic outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unemployment held at 5.2%<\/strong>, below expectations of 5.3%<\/strong>, while payrolls increased by 20,000<\/strong>, outperforming forecasts for a decline of 5,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The improvement in payrolls, along with upward revisions to December and January data, suggests that the worst effects of April 2025\u2019s labour cost increases<\/strong> may be easing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a broader measure, employment rose by 84,000<\/strong>, while annual employment growth improved slightly from -0.3% to -0.2%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, underlying weakness remains, with job vacancies falling<\/strong> to 721,000<\/strong> in February, down from 730,000<\/strong> in the previous three-month period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Average earnings growth slowed to 3.9% in January<\/strong>, down from 4.2% in December<\/strong>, in line with expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, private sector wage growth is now close to the 3.25% level<\/strong> that the Bank of England<\/strong> considers consistent with its 2% inflation target<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite improving employment data, analysts caution that rising energy prices<\/strong>\u2014driven by recent developments in the Middle East\u2014could create new headwinds for businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Higher costs may pressure firms to cut hiring or reduce headcount<\/strong> in the coming months, particularly if demand weakens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economists warn that the economy could face a stagflationary environment<\/strong>, where slowing growth coincides with rising inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest data is unlikely to shift the Bank of England\u2019s<\/strong> policy stance, with interest rates expected to remain at 3.75%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, policymakers are expected to remain cautious, balancing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the UK labour market is showing early signs of stabilization, the outlook remains fragile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rising energy costs and geopolitical uncertainty could dampen business confidence, reduce hiring momentum, and complicate the path for monetary policy in the months ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The UK labour market showed signs of stabilization in February, with steady unemployment and stronger-than-expected job growth, even as rising energy costs threaten to weigh on the economic outlook. Unemployment held at 5.2%, below expectations of 5.3%, while payrolls increased by 20,000, outperforming forecasts for a decline of 5,000. Employment shows tentative recovery The improvement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,36],"tags":[7202,6978,6987,6835],"class_list":["post-124836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-forex-markets","category-market-updates","tag-bank-of-england","tag-cpi","tag-inflation","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124837,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124836\/revisions\/124837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Employment shows tentative recovery<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Wage growth continues to cool<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Energy costs pose fresh risks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Bank of England outlook unchanged<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Outlook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n