The UK’s unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest in nearly fifty years but workers are still suffering sharp falls in real income as wage growth lags behind soaring inflation.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the country’s jobless rate dropped to 3.7 per cent from 3.8 per cent in the three months to March, the lowest since 1974 and better than economist expectations of no change in the first quarter.
In a further sign that businesses are struggling to recruit, the ONS said that the economy now had more open job vacancies than unemployed people for the first time since records began. The number of vacancies rose to a new record of 1.29 million in April.
Despite the tight labour
