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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Larry Elliott, Economics editor

Glass half empty or full? The two ways of viewing latest UK jobs figures

United Kingdom Bank of England Unemployment Economy Recession
office workers on London Bridge
Ultimately, the labour market data shows where the economy has been but doesn’t necessarily show where it is heading. Photograph: Alex Segre/Getty Images/iStockphoto

There are two ways of looking at the state of Britain’s labour market. In one it is a case of the glass being half full, in the other half empty.

If you are a government minister you take the former view. Nadhim Zahawi said the unemployment rate of 3.8% has rarely been lower in decades and the chancellor is right about that.

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