UK unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 4.0% in the three month to February, slightly above expectation of 3.9%. Employment rate rose 0.2% to a record high of 76.6% during the period. Wage growth slowed notably with average earnings including bonus decelerated to 2.8% 3moym down from 3.1%. Average earnings excluding bonus slowed to 2.9% 3moy down from 3.1%. The set of pre-coronavirus pandemic data is somewhat irrelevant to the markets.
