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LONDON - British pay growth in the private sector picked up in the three months to November but a plunge in payrolls added to signs of a softer labour market, according to data on Tuesday that offered mixed signals for Bank of England interest rate-setters.
Private-sector average weekly earnings growth excluding bonuses - a measure watched closely by the BoE as a gauge of domestic inflation pressure - rose to 6.0% in the three months to November from 5.5% in the three months to October.
In November, the central bank forecast this measure will show annual growth of 5.1% for the fourth quarter as a whole.
The jobless rate rose slightly to 4.4% in the three months to November, its highest since the three months to May, as expected in a Reuters poll of economists.
Pay growth for the whole economy, excluding bonuses, was 5.6% higher in the three months to the end of November than a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. A Reuters poll had pointed to regular wage growth of 5.5%.
Data from the tax office showed the number of employees numbers dropped by 47,000 in December, the biggest drop since November 2020 and following a 32,000 drop a month earlier.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; additional reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Kate Holton and David Milliken)