British workers' earnings grew at their slowest pace in seven months in the three months to July, showing a tight labour market is still not generating strong wage inflation.
The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday, also showed a drop in the internationally- recognised measure of the jobless rate to 4.7 percent, its lowest since records began 20 years ago.
The data is likely to be welcomed by policymakers who do not want the strongest labour market in Britain in decades to create inflationary pressures in the broader economy.
The ONS said average earnings in the three months to July rose just 3.8 percent over a year ago - the slowest growth since December 2003 - compared with 4.3 percent in the previous three month period.
That was also a half-percentage point lower than market expectations.
But earnings excluding bonuses - which the ONS said were weaker this year compared with the three month period to July last year and are a better measure of underlying wage inflation, - rose 4.2 percent, flat compared with the three months to June.
In any case, the earnings growth remained well below the 4.5 percent rate that many view as a threshold of tolerance for the central bank.
The latest labour market report came a day after data showing consumer price inflation rate fell further below the BoE's government-set target of 2.0 percent.
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