BUSINESS LIVE: FTSE recovers; Unemployment falls to 4.2%; Drahi increases BT stake; BoE says financial sector can withstand Omicron
British employers added 257,000 staff to their payrolls in November, adding to signs that the labour market withstood the end of the furlough scheme, Office for National Statistics data reveals.
The unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points on the quarter to a 16-month low of 4.2 per cent.
In company news, BT’s largest shareholder has increased his stake in the telecoms giant from 12.1 per cent to 18 per cent, prompting fears the company could be ripe for a takeover.
Elsewhere, the Bank of England said that Britain’s financial system is strong enough to withstand a disaster far worse than the latest Omicron variant.
Even if the economy shrank by another 9 per cent, unemployment spiked to 12 per cent and house prices tumbled by 33 per cent, lenders would not be at risk of collapse according to the central bank’s latest stress test which is part of the Financial Stability Report.
In a separate announcement, the BoE announced plans to ease mortgage lending rules in a move that could help many first-time buyers get on to the property ladder.
It said its Financial Policy Committee believes that its requirement for most mortgages to be limited to 4.5 times a borrower’s income, plus separate affordability rules from the Financial Conduct Authority, are sufficient.
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November’s employment increase was the biggest since records began in 2014