Rise in UK jobless rate muddies Rishi Sunak's message to voters
labour market showed more signs of cooling in April as the unemployment rate rose, an awkward development for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of the July 4 election, despite another month of robust wage growth.
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«The last parliament has been dismal for employment, and today's figures are the worst since the pandemic,» said Tony Wilson, director of the non-partisan think tank, the Institute for Employment Studies.
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The jobless rate for the three months to April rose to 4.4% from 4.3% between January and March, the highest reading since the three months to September 2021, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast no change in the rate.
The number of employed people has fallen by 207,000 since the end of 2023, while unemployment has increased by 190,000, the data showed.
Sterling fell after the data and government bond prices rose.
«For the first time since Thatcher's first term, the number of people in work has fallen, down by around 40,000 since Boris Johnson's victory,» Wilson said, referring to Britain's labour market since the December 2019 election.
The opposition Labour Party is on course to win the national election on July 4, according to opinion polls which give Keir Starmer's
