Tue 15 February 2022:
The UK’s unemployment rate remained steady at the end of last year despite the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, official data showed on Tuesday.
The figure stood at 4.1 percent in the three-month period ending in December, the same as the previous quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The rate was lower than the period ending in September, when it was at 4.3 percent, but it is still slightly over its pre-pandemic level.
However, taking into account inflation – which is at the highest level since the early 1990s amid a dramatic increase in household energy costs and wider cost of living crisis – real pay fell on the year by 0.1%. Wages excluding bonuses fell by 0.8%.
Sam Beckett, the head of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “After taking account of recent rises in consumer prices, real total pay fell in the year to October-December 2021, despite a strong recovery in bonuses.”
The discovery of Omicron in late November raised concerns about its potential effects on the global economy as countries restored some travel restrictions, but the highly infectious variant has proven less deadly than its predecessors.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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