UK wage growth slows as employment rises

Latest jobs figures also show that the unemployment rate remains at 5.1%

A first UK interest rate rise since the financial crash appears to be even further away after official figures showed that wages growth last year dipped to 1.9%.

Wages growth, which is watched carefully by the Bank of England for signs of inflation, lost momentum in December from a high of 3.3% last summer as the global slowdown in trade and turmoil on world stock markets hit the previously buoyant UK economy.

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