UK jobs market dodges hit from economic slowdown

ONS finds unemployment rate broadly unchanged and real wages rising thanks to falling inflation

• Analysis: Jeremy Hunt needs to act on staff shortages

Britain's labour market has so far emerged largely unscathed from the slowdown in the economy, the latest official figures show.

The latest health check from the Office for National Statistics found the jobless rate broadly unchanged, a small fall in employment and the strongest rise in pay adjusted for inflation in two years, as the pace of prices rises comes down.