The Bank of England could raise rates this summer after record strength for the UK jobs market, experts said on Tuesday.
Unemployment is at its lowest since the Seventies, at just 3.9%, while the economy added 222,000 jobs in the quarter to January, the Office for National Statistics said.
Pay growth is up 3.4% on the year, boosting real incomes as inflation recedes.
Despite low growth, employment is surging as firms shy away from investment and factors such as a higher female retirement age push the number of women in the workforce to an all-time high.
ING Bank economist James Knightley said: “If the Government gets a long Brexit extension, a Bank of England rate hike is clearly on the table for the summer.”
Mike Jakeman, senior economist at PwC, said: “The UK labour market has continued to defy any Brexit-related uncertainty.”
Other indicators are mixed as the ONS also said the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance hit 1.04 million in February, the highest since June 2014.
