London, Thanasis Gavos

The UK unemployment rate rose marginally from 3.7% to 3.8% in the three months to February, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This increase translates into 220,000 more people looking for a job.

The same figures show that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 28,200 in March, which points to further increases in the unemployment rate in the coming months.

Additionally, advertised job openings fell last quarter by 47,000 to 1.1 million. This is the ninth consecutive reduction in the number of jobs offered.

The ONS said the combination of these figures reflected “uncertainty” across a range of sectors, with many firms citing financial pressures as a reason for not taking on more staff.

The data also showed that overall average earnings, including wages, rose by 5.9% in the quarter to February.

Of course, this increase falls short of the rate of inflation, which in the corresponding period remained above 10%.

The rate of wage growth, excluding bonuses and inflation, was flat at 6.6% over the same period. Taking inflation into account, real income fell by 2.3%.

Regarding the strikes of the first two months of the month, it is reported that in February 348,000 working days were lost in total, after 210,000 hours in January.