Britain's labour market showed more signs of cooling in the three months to July despite another month of strong pay growth, according to data that leave the Bank of England on track for another interest rate hike next month.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in the three months to July from 4.2% a month earlier, its highest since the three months to September 2021.

The unemployment rate is already higher than the 4.1% the BoE had pencilled in for the third quarter as a whole, when it published its last set of forecasts in early August.

Employment also dropped sharply, the data showed.

British wages excluding bonuses were 7.8% higher than a year earlier in the three months to July, unchanged from the three months to June, the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 7.8% rise. (Reporting by Andy Bruce and David Milliken, editing by Sachin Ravikumar)