LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Britain's labour market outperformed even the highest expectations of economists polled by Reuters in data on Tuesday, piling pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates again in the face of unrelenting price pressures.
Employment and wage growth soared during the three months to April while the unemployment rate fell, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Sterling shot up by around a third of a cent against the dollar to $1.255 in response to the data, which RBC bank said was "unambiguously strong".
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The figures underlined signs that the economy is not cooling as the BoE had hoped so that momentum fades from rising prices, with Britain suffering one of the highest rates of inflation among major advanced economies.
Annual growth in wages excluding bonuses rose to 7.2% during the three months to April, up from 6.8% in the three months to March.
Outside of the COVID-19 pandemic, when wage statistics were skewed by furlough schemes, it was the highest reading on record.
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Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 6.9% rise on average.
"For the Bank of England, wage growth is a big problem – it is simply at too high a level to allow inflation to hit the 2% target," said Hussain Mehdi, macro and investment strategist at HSBC Asset Management.
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