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UK wage growth remained persistently strong in the three months to March despite a slowing jobs market, giving hawks on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee fresh grounds to wait for firmer signs of inflationary pressures easing before cutting interest rates.

The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday that annual growth in average weekly wages, including bonuses, remained steady at 5.7 per cent in the three months to March, compared with analysts’ expectation of a slowdown to 5.5 per cent.

Excluding bonuses, average wages were 6 per cent higher than a year earlier over the same period, also unchanged from an upwardly revised estimate for the three months to February and higher than the expected 5.9 per cent.

Strength in earnings came against a backdrop of a softening jobs market in which vacancies continued to fall, payrolled employment was virtually flat and the number of people claiming unemployment benefits edged up.

The ONS said the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 per cent, in line with analysts’ expectations, with the employment rate steady at 74.5 per cent — sharply down on the previous quarter and from a year earlier.

Traders in swaps markets slightly increased the probability of a BoE rate cut by June to 50 per cent. Investors held bets that the central bank would deliver two quarter-point cuts by the end of the year.

Sterling brushed off the figures, remaining flat against the dollar on the day at $1.256.

BoE rate-setters have been wary of reading too much into official figures on the jobs market in recent months, because there have been deep-seated problems with the ONS’s labour force survey, and volatility in the figures on earnings — even though the latter are based on a separate survey.

However, the broad picture of a slowdown in hiring and persistently strong wage pressures in the run-up to a bumper increase in the statutory minimum wage is consistent with other surveys and data sources.

The figures will do little to resolve the divisions between members of the MPC who voted last week by seven to two to hold interest rates at a 16-year high of 5.25 per cent.

Minutes of the meeting suggested some MPC members wanted to see more evidence of pay pressures easing before starting to cut rates. But Andrew Bailey, BoE governor, said the MPC expected inflationary pressures to fade “slightly faster” than previously assumed, with businesses becoming less able to pass higher costs on to consumers.

Ashley Webb, economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said Tuesday’s data could “at the margin . . . make the bank a bit more uneasy about first cutting interest rates in June”.

Monetary policymakers view the strength of the jobs market as critical to the inflation outlook because rapid wage growth in areas where workers are scarce has been a big factor fuelling prices in the labour-intensive service sector over the past year.

But Thomas Pugh, at the audit firm RSM UK, said unexpectedly high wage growth could reflect big retailers “getting ahead” of a minimum wage rise in April, and the MPC could still cut rates in June.

Yael Selfin, chief UK economist at KPMG, said wage growth was likely to slow in the coming months on the back of weaker hiring, and that data next month could “ignite more dovish sentiment on the MPC” provided it showed a higher minimum wage had given average earnings “only a modest boost”.

In survey results released Thursday, about 65% of respondents said they’ve experienced concerns about their own mental health or that of friends and family, compared to 59% in April 2022 and 50% in April 2020.

“I think the take-home point is that we continue to see behavioral health be an increasing focus of the public,” Dr. Taft Parsons III, CVS Health vice president and chief psychiatric officer, tells Fortune. “[COVID-19] has brought about not an elimination but a decrease in the amount of stigma that people used to have with talking about their emotional struggles and behavioral health needs.”

Socialization is a means of coping with stress, Parsons says, and when people faced sudden, prolonged isolation, some took to virtual mental health treatment: “Before the pandemic, I think a lot of people would just suffer in silence and not get the help that they need.”

Nearly half of respondents, 48%, said they’re likely to use mental well-being apps for treatment, while 55% said the same of therapy.

A majority of respondents, 77%, said they’re concerned about mental well-being on a national scale. By comparison, 81% said the economy was also a significant concern.

“We’re talking about really top-of-mind issues,” Parsons says. “This is dinner conversation; people are very concerned about it.”

Respondents cited these issues as drivers of anxiety:

• Uncertainty about the future: 51%
• Current events: 49%
• Body image/physical appearance: 35%

The poll results align with a growing body of evidence documenting increased rates of depression and anxiety, particularly among younger people, says Dr. Itai Danovitch, chair of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, who wasn’t involved in the survey.

“Those concerned about their mental health should recognize that we can strengthen our resilience by prioritizing self-care practices such as safeguarding sleep, making time for exercise, reducing excessive digital media consumption, and prioritizing quality time with friends and family,” Danovitch tells Fortune via email. “For individuals experiencing severe or persistent mood symptoms, it is crucial to consult a health care professional, as there are various effective treatment options that can be tailored to personal values and preferences.”

While the survey methodology indicates “data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, educational attainment, race, and region,” the published results weren’t stratified by these demographics. CVS Health provided Fortune with additional data showing 81% of respondents ages 18–34 said they were concerned about their mental health or that of their loved ones, compared to 74% in 2022 and 62% in 2020. However, it is unclear how this compares to other age groups.

Jamie Grill—Getty Images

Social media has pros, cons for mental health

Social media use dovetails with mental health in myriad positive and negative ways, the survey results suggest. About 36% of respondents said social media has taught them about mental health issues. Meanwhile, 37% said they believe social media has hurt society at large. A third said they’re trying to spend less time on social media and turned off app notifications.

“A lot of public figures have started to talk about needing and being in treatment through social media and telling their personal stories,” Parsons says. “From that standpoint, it’s a very good thing…there is a goodness to folks being able to spread the word and spread it quickly.”

Parsons adds, “We have seen some of the negative effects of that too, from the standpoint of people attributing stress and anxiety to things that are coming through Instagram and other social media—as well as the way that it’s affected our general ability to get along and cooperate with circles of folks that are different from us.”

Roughly half of parents surveyed said they feel social media is impacting their children’s development and perceptions of the world. In addition, more parents are concerned with their children’s mental health, 70%, than physical health, 66%.

“Mounting evidence suggests that, especially during childhood, the adverse effects of social media are significant and widespread,” Danovitch says. “We have a considerable way to go in effectively addressing these challenges.”

If you need immediate mental health support, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

CVS Health is a sponsor of Fortune WELL.

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