7 December 2018

The old statistical approach reported a jobless rate of 5.4% in 1974.

At the same time, there was also a less optimistic issue – the wage growth slowed down again.

Annual average hourly wage growth kept decreasing last month to 1.46%, marking the lowest number since July 2017.

Specialists predicted a stronger increase, fueled by the tightened labour market. Nevertheless, the wage growth has been going down every month since the May peak of 3.9%. Now it’s below the inflation level.

The central bank keeps a close eye on the number when making a rate decision.