![\"Job\"](\"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Job.jpg\")
Britain\u2019s unemployment rate remains close to a 41-year low, official data showed Wednesday, as the labor market continued to show resilience following the Brexit vote.\nUnemployment for the three months to the end of February was about 4.7 percent, the same rate as in the three months to the end of January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
\nThat left the rate at its lowest point since 2004, and a whisker away from the record level hit summer of 1975.
\nThere were 31.84 million people in work, 39,000 more than for September to November 2016, although analysts had predicted a larger increase of 76,000.
\n\u201cThe labor market has been helped by the economy\u2019s extended resilience since June\u2019s Brexit vote,\u201d noted IHS Markit economist Howard Archer.
\nOver the same period, 1.56 million people were unemployed, 45,000 fewer than the previous three months, according to the ONS.
\nThe proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 in work stood at 74.6 percent. That was the joint highest since records began in 1971.
\nThe figures also showed that wage growth including bonuses held steady at 2.3 percent.
\nThat means that real wage growth stood at zero, once the effect of inflation was taken into account.
\nThat could spell trouble for Britain\u2019s consumer-reliant economy, according to Hargreaves Lansdown economist Ben Brettell.
\n\u201cWith inflation forecast to carry on rising \u2014 the Bank of England predicts a peak around 2.8 percent early next year \u2014 real wages are likely to start falling soon, squeezing household budgets,\u201d Brettell warned.
\n\u201cThe UK economy is heavily reliant on consumer spending and this could prove a headwind for economic growth as we move through the year.\u201d
\nBritish annual inflation stood at 2.3 percent in March, holding at a 3.5-year high, official data had showed Tuesday.
\nHowever, economists overwhelmingly believe that inflation rate will surge close to 3 percent by the end of the year, faster than the predicted rise in household incomes.
\nRising oil prices and a weaker pound following the Brexit vote have sent inflation above the Bank of England\u2019s 2.0-percent target.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re beginning to see evidence that this is hitting spending growth,\u201d added James Smith from ING, pointing to a recent fall in retail sales reported by the British Retail Consortium.
\n\u201cThrow in the slowdown in jobs growth today \u2014 increasing by 39,000 in the three months to February, from 92,000 previously \u2014 and it looks like the squeeze on household is intensifying.\u201d
\nAll eyes will be on the next release of key data \u2014 official retail sales figures for March \u2014 on April 21.<\/p>\n