The UK unemployment rate fell to 6% in the three months to September, down from 6.3% in the April to June period and down from 7.6% in the same period last year. This doesn’t quite hit analysts’ expectations, although wages rose faster than anticipated.

Pay excluding bonuses for employees in Great Britain was 1.3% higher than a year earlier, the first time in five years that pay has risen more than inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).

Wage rises are a key figure watched by the Bank of England when considering whether to start raising interest rates, although this is not expected to happen in the immediate future.