Wage growth came in well below inflation in October, increasing pressure on households for the seventh month in a row.

Average weekly wages rose by 2.3 percent in the three months to October, according to the latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics, coming in below yesterday’s inflation figure of 3.1 percent.

Real earnings, which take into account the cost of living, fell by 0.4 percent.

The ONS also released its unemployment figures, which declined by 26,000 to 1.43 million. The jobless rate remained at its lowest level since 1975, 4.3 percent, with the unemployment rate for women hitting a record low at just 4.1 percent.

John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC, said that the figures indicated that the “great British jobs boom of recent years may be running out of steam”.