Can Labour get young people back to work?

The UK still looks set to get another interest rate cut (or two) by the end of the year, but is that now the main indicator of a healthy labour market? This morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics shows average wage growth slowed to 4 per cent in the three months leading up to July. Wage growth is still outpacing inflation, but it is moving in the right direction – for the Bank of England anyway, which is watching closely to see if its first rate cut is going to have any major impact on wages, risking a secondary round of inflation spikes.

Adjusting for inflation, overall wages are up 1.1 per cent on the year, which should give the BoE room for another rate cut this autumn and even possibly at its last meeting in December.