Britain’s unemployment rate unexpectedly edged up in the final three months of last year to 7.2 percent of the working population. <br /><br />It was the first rise in almost a year. <br /><br />It had been 7.1 percent in the three months up to the end of November, the UK’s Office for National Statistics said<br /><br />The labour market is mixed though as the number of claimants of jobless benefits fell for the 15th consecutive month.<br /><br />Such claimants are a narrower category than those who are deemed unemployed <br /><br />Wage growth also accelerated. Average weekly earnings rose by 1.1 percent in the three months to December 2013 compared with the same period in 2012. <br /><br />Wage growth has lagged inflation over the last years, and the squeeze on incomes is a key battleground of next year’s general election.<br /><br />This takes some pressure of the UK central bank which had linked a possible increase in interest rates to falling jobless totals.<br /><br />The Bank of England has said that it is in no rush to put up borrowing costs.
