'Economic storm' | Unemployment is falling, but so are wages

An expert has warned of an ‘economic storm’ ahead as UK employment dropped to a near-50 year low, at the same time that wages also suffered a massive fall.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS)’s latest jobs market data showed that, when adjusted for inflation, earnings dropped by the highest margin in nine years.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% in the first three months of the year, which is the lowest since 1974. Between January and March there were 1.257million people out of work.

The ONS also reported that growth in employees' average total pay (including bonuses) was 7.0%, and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 4.2% in January to March 2022.