Britons saw wages fall for the first time since 2009 between April and July, despite unemployment falling to 6.4%.
The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of people unemployed has fallen by 132,000 since March, showing a continued decline in the number of people out of work over the last year.
Notably, the number of young people out of work also fell in the trhee months to June by 102,000 to 767,000, the biggest fall since records began in 1992.
Whilst more people may be employed, the growth in jobs may be in part-time or low-pay roles, as average pay including bonuses for employees in Great Britain was 0.2% lower than a year earlier.
Earlier this week, the government praised a rebirth in British entrepreneurialism after figures from the IPPR thinktank showed that the growth in self-employment in the UK has been the fastest of all western European countries over the past year, with two out of five of all new jobs since 2010 have been among the self-employed.
However, many of the newly self-employed are only working part-time or earning a fraction of those in full-time positions. The growth in the numbers of self-employed may be a sign of a fragile job market where jobseekers are forced to start their own business due to lack of other opportunities for employment.
