UK unemployment stayed flat in June and wages rose as expected

The latest batch of British labour market figures have just been released, giving a snapshot of the economy in June.

Unemployment came in at 5.6%. Analysts were expecting the unemployment rate to stay flat, and it did.

After a period of rapid decline in 2013 and 2014, the unemployment rate seems to be more steady. It fell to 5.6% and has hovered between that and 5.5% since then.

Earnings, however, have started to pick up. Average weekly earnings (AWE) rose by 2.8%, as analysts expected.

That would have been a very modest increase in pay some years ago, but in real terms it's now relatively decent, since inflation is hovering around zero.