Catherwood LibraryILR School

Despite the United Kingdom’s decision to exit the European Union, the nation’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9% until July. Surprisingly, today the Office of National Statistics reported that July’s unemployment rate actually fell to 4.7%. Wage growth declined .2% since last quarter. The Bank of England does expect unemployment to eventually creep to 5.6% by the middle of 2018, which could hurt the nation’s economy. Chief economist at PriceWaterHouseCoopers, John Hawksworth, confirmed that the Brexit did not have an immediate impact, and believes that if a delayed impact does occur, the labor market won’t be the first to react. The news resulted in the pound rallying to versus both the dollar and the euro.