UK Labour-market slack likely diminished further

February's labour-market data is expected to show that slack in the UK labour market continued to diminish. 

The three-month average unemployment rate will likely remain at 5.7% as there was an unexpected increase in the single-month rate in January.

"We expect weekly earnings ex-bonuses to have accelerated to 1.7% y/y from 1.6% prior. Even though earnings growth remains below the long-run pre-crisis average of around 3-3.5%, it is still significantly above headline CPI, boosting employees' real incomes" says Standard Chartered 

The remaining spare capacity in the UK labour market is closely watched by the Bank of England for signs of domestically generated inflationary pressures.