According to newfigures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK unemployment has hit the lowest figure in 40 years.
Between April and June this year unemployment in the UK fell by 65,000 to 1.36 million, reaching just four percent.
The figures have also shown a record fall in the number of EU nationals working in the EU, which has fallen since the 2016 Brexit vote.
Matthew Percival, CBI head of employment, has said that the government needs to guarantee the protection of EU workers in the UK in the event of whatever Brexit scenario may occur.
A senior ONS statistician Matt Hughes said in a statement: “The number of people in work has continued to edge ahead, though the employment rate was unchanged on the quarter.”
“However, the number of vacancies is a new record high, while the unemployment rate is now at its lowest since the winter of 1974-75,” he added.
Wages were also seen to grow in the three months to June by 2.7 percent.
“Average weekly earnings for employees in Great Britain in real terms (that is, adjusted for price inflation) increased by 0.4 percent excluding bonuses, and by 0.1 percent including bonuses, compared with a year earlier,” the ONS said.
Productivity also increased and the output per hour worked was up by 1.5 percent, which is the biggest increase since 2016.
Earlier this year, the Bank of England raised interest rates, which according to Suren Thiru, the head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, was a premature move.
“Achieving sustained increases in wage growth remains a key challenge, with sluggish productivity, underemployment and the myriad of high upfront business costs weighing down on pay settlements,” he said.
“As such, there remains precious little sign that wage growth is set to take off – undermining a key assumption behind the Monetary Policy Committee’s recent decision to raise rates.”
