Mubasher: UK job creation lost slight pace in the third quarter of 2019, as the number of working people declined, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The number of employed people across the UK fell by 58,000 to a total of 32.753 million people in the period between July and September, from the prior three-month period, the ONS’ Labour Survey stated on Tuesday.

While this meant a rate of the employment of 76% during the quarter, it was the biggest quarterly drop since May 2015, when the level fell by 65,000.

When compared with the same quarter last year, the number climbed by 323,000.

Despite the falling number of working individuals, the level of unemployment fell by 23,000, to 1.306 million, sending the total jobless rate to 3.8% in the three-month period ended last September, compared with 3.9% during the period between April and June and 4% a year ago.

Wage growth also saw the second monthly fall running, as earnings remained fractionally below their pre-financial crisis high.

Total pay continued to grow much faster than inflation, but the growth rate slowed down to 3.6% from 3.8% growth reported last month.

By 10:00 am GMT, the GBP/USD pair declined by 0.12% to $1.2839, while the EUR/GBP pair went up by 0.12% to GBP 0.8594.