2017.08.1621:43:00UTC+00UK Employment Notched Record Peak but Pay Remains Under Pressure

British employment reached a record peak, but workers' wages are still being squeezed as productivity drops.

Official statistics that were recently published signified the resilience of the UK jobs markets and its constant underlying problem. The workforce has been less productive than it was a decade ago, while employers are reluctant to increase salaries.

In the three months to the end of June, another 125,000 people have found jobs. This means that 75.1 percent of all people between the ages of 16 and 64 were in work, the highest employment rate since records started in 1971.

The jobless rate dropped from 4.5 to 4.4 percent in the quarter, the lowest marked rate since 1975.

The majority of new jobs were full-time, while the count of people on insecure zero-hours contracts fell by 20,000 to 883,000.

The productivity of Britain's workers dropped 0.1 percent in the second quarter after a 0.5 percent decline in the first.