In April, UK claimant count, a measure of number of people claiming unemployment benefits, jumped 865.5k to 2.097m. The range of forecasts for this data was wide, from 60k change to as many as 1.5m. The released data was slightly on the high side. Claimant count rate rose to 5.8%, highest in over two decades.
In the three month to March, unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 3.9%, down from 4.0%, better than expectation of 4.4%. Average earnings including bonus slowed to 2.4% 3moy, below expectation of 2.7% 3moy. Average earnings excluding bonus slowed to 2.7% 3moy, matched expectations.
