The UK labour market continues to surprise with its resilience to the Brexit shock. The unemployment rate in the three months to November remained at an 11-year low of 4.8 percent, while the number of people unemployed fell to 1.6 million, the lowest level in more than a decade. This is yet more evidence that the labour market and the wider economy have fared better than expected since June’s referendum – something which is now being recognised by Mark Carney and his Bank of England colleagues.

Last week Michael Saunders, who joined the Bank’s monetary policy committee last August, said unemployment could remain below 5 percent for an extended period, confounding expectations that the vote to leave the EU would lead to rising joblessness. In its November inflation report the Bank forecast the rate would rise to 5.4 percent by the end of this year.

Further encouragement was provided by the claimant count, which in a quirk of the data is a more recent figure than the unemployment rate. The number of people claiming out-of-work benefits fell by 10,100 in December.

Interestingly wage growth ticked up slightly, from 2.6 percent to 2.8 percent. This is good news for households who are finding their budgets squeezed by higher inflation – and also good news for consumer spending and economic growth. However, it could also be an indicator of some tightening in the labour market. When an economy gets close to full employment, firms need to offer higher pay to attract workers, which in turn can push up inflation. Wage growth is predicted to weaken during the course of the year, but nevertheless it’s something the Bank of England will be keeping a close eye on.