(Finance) – The number of unemployed people requesting benefits is increasing in the United Kingdom (claimant count): in May they increased by 50,400 units, after reporting an increase of 8,400 units in April (revised from a preliminary of +8,900). The data, published byOffice for National Statistics (ONS), compares with the increase of 10,200 units estimated by the consensus.
It also goes up unemployment ratewhich stood at 4.4% in April, compared to the 4.3% in the previous month and expected by analysts.
In the three months to April, employment fell by 140 thousand units, after the decrease of 177 thousand units in the previous month. Market estimates were for a contraction of 100 thousand units.
Finally, the growth rate of average wages showed, again in April, an increase of 6% excluding bonuses, in line with the previous month, while including this component it recorded a +5.9%, above the consensus (5.7%) and in line with the previous month.