UK jobless rate at 5.4%

Britain’s jobless rate has fallen to its lowest level in more than seven years but pay growth was a bit slower than expected, suggesting the labour market is not hot enough to speed up a Bank of England interest rate hike.

Britain’s unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in the three months to August, down from 5.5% in the three months to July, the Office for National Statistics said.

It was the lowest jobless rate since the second quarter of 2008, before the worst of the financial crisis, and below a median forecast of 5.5% in a Reuters poll of economists.