FILE PHOTO: Signs are seen outside a job centre in Borough, in London, Britain, Dec 1, 2024. [Photo/Agencies]
The employment market in the United Kingdom is displaying the first signs of feeling the impact of the Iran war, after newly published figures showed the unemployment rate has unexpectedly gone up at the same time as the number of job vacancies has reached its lowest level in five years.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the jobless rate for the first three months of the year unexpectedly rose from 4.9 percent in February to 5 percent in March, when the forecast had been for it to stay the same.
At the same time, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in April rose by 27,000, the largest increase since July 2024, and the number of payroll employees fell in April by 100,000, as opposed to 28,000 in March, the largest decline since the early days of the pandemic. In addition, after taking inflation into account, wages have risen by just 0.3 percent.
Martin Beck, chief economist at the economics consultancy WPI Strategy, told The Guardian newspaper several factors were to blame, including energy prices and geopolitical instability, and he noted that the impact was being felt differently among different age groups, with the young suffering the most.
