LONDON, (Reuters) – British workers earned less between April and June than they did in the same period last year, even as the unemployment rate fell once again, official data showed.
The numbers underscore the challenge facing the Bank of England which is due to explain later on Wednesday what the mixed signals from the labour market mean for its thinking on when to raise interest rates.
The unemployment rate fell as expected to 6.4 percent in the three months to June, its lowest level since the end of 2008 and down from 6.5 percent a month earlier, the Office for National Statistics said.
But average weekly earnings, including bonuses, fell by a yearly 0.2 percent, the ONS said, the first time the reading had turned negative since March-May 2009 when the financial crisis caused a slump in bonus payouts.
That was a slightly bigger decline than a consensus forecast for a fall of 0.1 percent in a Reuters poll.
Earnings figures have suffered in recent months when compared with the same period last year because a cut in income tax in April 2013 prompted many firms to delay payment of bonuses last year.
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