Wage growth at strongest level for nearly a decade

Pay packets rose by an average of 3.1% in the three months to August, the fastest pace for nearly a decade, according to official figures.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said unemployment fell by 47,000 to 1.36 million while the unemployment rate remained at a 43-year low of 4%.The figures look less impressive when taking account of the effect of inflation - in real terms pay rose by just 0.7% over the period, though this was still the best since the end of 2016.