UK unemployment at lowest rate for 48 years

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In the three months to July, the UK's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in four decades.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.6%.

The squeeze on pay continues, with rises in regular pay not keeping up with the cost of living.

The value of regular pay fell when the prices rose.

Inflation has remained at a 40 year high. The figure is expected to be higher.

The jobs market may be turning despite the fall in the unemployment rate. The employment rate and vacancies both fell.

James Reed, the chairman of Reed, told the Today programme that the jobs boom that began six months after the Pandemic was likely to end now.

Unemployment continues to go down because there are still a lot of vacancies and people are still advertising a lot of jobs.

What do you think will happen next? There could be a jobs slump. Our data at the moment doesn't suggest that, because we've still got a large number of vacancies and a lot of employers are still struggling to recruit.

Between June and August, the number of vacancies fell by 34,000, the most in two years.

The employment rate dropped from the previous three months.

There is a continued gap between private and public sector pay.

In May to July, the private sector's average regular pay growth was six percent, compared with two percent for the public sector. That is the biggest difference between the private and public sectors since the beginning of the Pandemic period.

The squeezed labour market is bad news for businesses.

"With firms doing their best to keep afloat during a period of spiralling costs, they are also facing an extremely tight labour market which is further impacting their ability to invest and grow," said Jane Gratton.

There are still many vacancies in the labour market despite a decrease in job vacancies. There are over 1.2 million unfilled jobs in the country and businesses are having a hard time filling them.

During a time of increasing inflation and a stagnant economy, we can't afford to let recruitment problems affect growth.