Wage growth has fallen to its slowest pace for almost two years as the job market continues to relax.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of employees on payrolls has slowed and job vacancies have continued to fall.

Despite earnings sitting at an annual pace of 5.7% in the first three month to May, but wages are still outpacing rising prices.

Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics said: “We continue to see overall some signs of a cooling in the labour market, with the growth in the number of employees on the payroll weakening over the medium term and unemployment gradually increasing."

While job vacancies have been falling for the past two years, the numbers still remain higher that before the C19 pandemic.

But, between April and June last year, the number of vacancies fell by 30,000 to 889,000 which was led by the hospitality and retail sector.

Ms Keown added that growth in earnings, "while remaining relatively strong, is showing signs of slowing again".

"However, with inflation falling, in real terms it is at its highest rate in over two and a half years."

FTSE 100

The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was up 115-points at 8,265 shortly after opening this morning.

Brent crude oil futures were up 0.59%, trading at $85.63 a barrel.

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