{"id":770131,"date":"2026-02-17T09:45:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/770131\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:45:16","slug":"uk-unemployment-rate-hits-near-five-year-high-as-wage-growth-slows-live-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/770131\/","title":{"rendered":"UK unemployment rate hits near five-year high as wage growth slows &#8211; live updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/core\/website\/assets\/static\/news\/incident-types\/light-mode\/analysis.77b314ef10.svg\" alt=\"Analysis\" draggable=\"false\" class=\"ssrcss-to2z4d-ContributorImageComponent e2hr5uu0\"\/>Uncertainty can lead employers to sit on their handspublished at 09:05 GMT<\/p>\n<p>09:05 GMT<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-5adjh7-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/90650d3a-f13f-4e8b-a66a-3d8bffe80aae.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><strong>Simon Jack<\/strong><br \/>Business editor<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Today&#8217;s figures suggest the job market is still weak. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Employers are still reluctant to take people on for a number of reasons we saw last year: there was a big increase in employers&#8217; National Insurance contributions, increases in the National Living Wage, particularly for young people, and there\u2019s uncertainty around the Employment Rights Act. We also had a late Budget. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">All of that creates uncertainty, so employers kind of sit on their hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The good news is that the hiring freeze seems to be thawing just a little bit. The number of vacancies out there has kind of levelled off. But overall you could say that this is still a pretty weak employment market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">We\u2019re seeing the biggest falls in employment in retail and hospitality. This sector employs quite a lot of young people, and people either at or close to the National Living Wage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The broader picture is that a lot of these uncertainties came at precisely the moment in the wider economy when employers were thinking: &#8216;how many people do I actually need? Can I get automation? Can I deploy AI?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">People are getting a bit more expensive and a bit riskier &#8211; so they\u2019re thinking of other ways to invest in the business, in capital rather than labour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uncertainty can lead employers to sit on their handspublished at 09:05 GMT 09:05 GMT Simon JackBusiness editor Today&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":["post-770131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116085334137350298","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}