Giving a speech at the London Business School on Monday, Bank of England (BoE) deputy governor Ben Broadbent highlighted that in the real world, there is inevitably a degree of inaccuracy in economic measurement. He noted, however, that there is currently a little more uncertainty regarding unemployment behaviour than usual. "Official estimates of wage growth have been volatile and other indicators have exhibited slightly lower (if still very elevated) rates of growth through much of this year," the official added.
Broadbent also cautioned that policy reaction to shocks is likely to be somewhat more delayed than in a world of perfect and complete information, and it takes time to understand the forces driving the economy, particularly in services inflation and wage growth.
The BoE's deputy governor also suggested that it will probably require a more protracted and clearer decline in wage growth data before the rate-setters can safely conclude that things are on a firmly downward trend.