(MENAFN– ecpulse) U.K. ILO unemployment for the three months through February retreated more than forecast below the BOE’s threshold, adding to signs recovery is gaining traction.
The rate dipped to 6.9 percent from a previous of 7.2 percent, beating analysts’ projections of 7.1 percent.
The number of job seekers retreated by 77,000 to 2.24 million in the three months through February, while the number of workers edged up 239,000 to 30.4 million.
Once the 7 percent threshold has been reached, the BOE will shift attention to eliminating spare capacity while holding inflation near the bank’s target, BOE Governor Mark Carney said.
The BOE has mentioned that raising interest rate will not only depend on unemployment rate but also on other measures such as business surveys and the number of hours worked. In other words, a broader range of spare capacity.
In March, jobless claims dropped 30,400 from a revised of 37,000 drop in February, compared to median forecasts of 30,000 fall.
Wage growth advanced to 1.7 percent in the quarter through February from the previous of 1.4 percent.
The recent data from the U.K. suggest that recovery is moving on the right track the U.K. could have the fastest growth pace among the G7 nations.
However, further deceleration in prices could become one of the hurdles against recovery.
Data released on Tuesday showed that CPI for the year ended March retreated to 1.6%, the lowest since October 2009, from 1.7% in February
Last week, the BOE held its monetary stance this month with an interest rate at 0.50 percent and amount of asset purchases at 375 billion pounds.
As of 08:40 GMT, the pound climbed versus the U.S. dollar to trade around 1.6801 after touching a peak of 1.6813.
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