While still high, and amid evidence that businesses are still creating jobs the market cannot fill, it's now comfortably below the total number of unemployed which stands around 1.3 million. The number of economically inactive people also dipped again as more people returned to the workplace.
Is this a sign that the labour market may finally be cooling and the squeeze of higher interest rates is finally being felt in the real economy? Perhaps. If so, it isn't happening fast enough yet to stop real earnings from falling.June: 'Current wage rises unsustainable'Real incomes fell -1.7% according to the ONS. Persistent price rises are playing a part too, and the two appear to be chasing each other in an inflationary circle.
All of which has led markets to anticipate yet another interest increase from the Bank of England in August as the