The UK economy faces more job losses and has found itself in a “painful place,” a former Bank of England policymaker has said.
Economist Michael Saunders, a former member of the Monetary Policy Committee which sets interest rates, said the rise in unemployment to 4.3pc in the three months to March “does not look like an economy which is improving”.
Unemployment rose to 1.49m in the three months to March, according to the Office for National Statistics, up from 1.32m in the previous quarter. It takes the unemployment rate up to 4.3pc, its highest since last summer.
Mr Sauders told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There’s not much sign of an economic recovery in these figures.
“Really the labour market is starting to react to the sluggish growth that we’ve had in the economy in the last couple of years and I fear there are probably some more job losses to come.”
The figures also showed that the average worker was paid 6.2pc more in March than they were a year earlier
When taking inflation into account, total pay rose by 2.1pc, which was the highest since the three months to September 2021.
