Kevin Brown, savings specialist at Scottish Friendly, comments on labour market figures

A headache for policymakers

"Employment data was ahead of expectations in January. While employees may be celebrating, it gives policymakers a headache. It suggests inflationary pressures may be stronger than originally thought, and it may take a March rate cut off the table. It comes at a time when the markets were already febrile after US CPI data showed inflationary pressures rising.

"Overall, UK employees are still seeing inflation-busting pay rises, but this masks some competing forces underneath. On the one hand, bumper pay settlements for public sector workers continue to support the figures, but there is weakness emerging in the private sector. Although the Government’s National Insurance rise doesn’t come into force until April, there are signs that companies are already cutting back on staff and pay rises. The next few months will likely see a tussle between these competing forces."