Economic Indicators, February 2016

Employment rate hits record highs but wage growth slows

The employment rate in September-November 2015 was 74.0%, this is the highest level since comparable records began in in 1971. The unemployment rate was 5.1% in the same period, its lowest level since 2006.

Wages grew by 2.0%, down by 0.4% points – average weekly wages are still below their 2007 peak.

GDP growth at its slowest level in three years

GDP in the UK grew by 0.5% in Q4 2015 – a slight improvement on the previous quarter.

Annual growth in 2015 was 2.2% down compared with 2.9% in 2014 – this was the slowest growth for three years. However, the annual growth was in line with a recent forecast from the IMF who said that the UK economy would grow by 2.2% in 2015 and for the next two years.