UK unemployment remains at 4.9%

Data releases today show that UK unemployment has held at 4.9%, with July seeing an unexpected drop in jobless claims by 8,600. Job vacancies continued their downward trend, falling 7,000 in the three months through July. These data demonstrate companies generally showing resilience after the UK’s vote to leave the EU in June, however, as with the inflation data released yesterday, it is likely to take some time for the true fallout from Brexit to feed through. Softening economic data and increased uncertainty will likely take its toll on the UK labour market over the coming months when the full post-referendum employment picture emerges.