Commenting on this morning's labour market data released by the ONS, Kevin Brown, savings expert at Scottish Friendly, says

"Despite the economy outperforming expectations in the first quarter, today's labour market figures show the jobs market continues to struggle. Higher payroll taxes, economic uncertainty and rising geopolitical tensions are making employers cautious about hiring – and that reluctance is weighing on wage growth.

"For the Bank of England, cooling wage growth is a silver lining, particularly with renewed Middle East tensions threatening to push up the cost of living once again. But for workers and households, this will be a concern, especially if much higher inflation returns.

"Taken as a whole, we expect the Bank to sit tight on interest rates for the remainder of the year. With the labour market looking fragile, rate-setters will be wary of anything that acts as a drag on the economy, especially after a quarter of unexpectedly strong growth.

"The bigger near-term threat to people's finances is what's happening in the Middle East. Therefore, households could look to make their finances more resilient by shopping around for the best energy tariffs and savings rates and asking whether their money could be working a lot harder for them in markets."