After inflation, UK wage growth almost disappears

Inflation almost completely gnawed away the growth in pay of British workers during the three months to February, the clearest evidence yet that households are feeling the strain of rising prices as Brexit negotiations begin.

Inflation-adjusted pay growth inched up just 0.2 percent over the period, the weakest increase since mid-2014, official data showed on Wednesday.

The figures drove home how households are grappling with rising prices in shops, exacerbated by the pound's plunge that followed last year's vote to leave the European Union and by rising global oil prices.

The unemployment rate in the period between December and February held steady at an almost 12-year low of 4.7 percent, in line with the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

"Big picture remains a labour market with very strong employment plateauing at record highs ... combined with a pay disaster," Torsten Bell, director of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said on Twitter.

Sterling hit its highest level in over a week against the U.S. dollar after the figures as investors focused on a slightly stronger-than-expected rate of nominal pay growth. Earnings including bonuses rose by an annual 2.3 percent in the three months to February, unchanged from the previous period, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Wednesday.

Economists taking part in a Reuters poll had expected growth of 2.2 percent.