U.K. Unemployment Hits Decade Low as Labor Market Tightens
- Wage growth excluding bonuses slows less than expected
- Debate on when to raise interest rates hinges on productivity
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U.K. unemployment unexpectedly fell to the lowest in almost a decade and wage growth slowed less than economists forecast as the labor market continued to strengthen.
Pay excluding bonuses rose 1.9 percent in the three months through November from a year earlier compared with 2 percent in the quarter through October, the Office for National Statistics said in London on Wednesday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted 1.8 percent. Unemployment fell to 5.1 percent, the lowest since the three months through January 2006.