Basic pay growth slows for first time in a year
BoE watching labour market inflation pressure
Investors see 40 chance of rate hike pause next week
Jobless rate unchanged at 3.7
But vacancies and inactivity rate fall

LONDON, March 14 Reuters Growth in pay in Britain which the Bank of England is watching closely as it weighs up whether to pause its run of interest rate hikes next week lost pace in the three months to January, official data showed on Tuesday.

Basic pay, excluding bonuses, rose by 6.5 compared with 6.7 in the three months to December, representing the first slowdown in the that measure since late 2021.

Total pay grew by an annual 5.7 in the NovembertoJanuary period, slowing from 6.0 in the previous figures and the weakest increase since the three months to July last year, the Office for National Statistics said.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected basic and total earnings to rise by 6.6 and 5.7 respectively.

Britain39;s unemployment rate held at 3.7 in the three months to January, close to its lowest in almost five decades, the data also showed.

Economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected the rate to rise to 3.8.

The BoE is expected to raise borrowing costs on March 23 by a further quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 although investors have cut their bets on such a move sharply after the collapse of U.S. lender Silicon Valley Bank.

Interest rate futures showed investors were putting the chance of the BoE pausing its rate hikes next…