By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. rose again in October, although by less than feared, as the British economy slid towards what is likely to be a long recession.
The claimant count rose by 3,300 from September, well below the 17,300 consensus forecast, underlining that the labor market remains tight due to the lack of available workers even as activity slows. There was also a big downward revision to September's figures to show a rise of only 3,900, rather than the 25,500 initially reported.
There was a further indication of the labor market's tightness in that average earnings growth excluding bonuses accelerated in the year through September - the last month for which data are available - to 5.7%, from an upwardly revised 5.5%.
Even though earnings are still running well below an inflation rate of around 10%, the figures indicate little slack in the economy that would allow the Bank of England to stop its sequence of interest rate rises.