What Is Claimant Count Change And Does It Affects The British Pound GBP?

Claimant Count Change is a UK employment figure that is released by the Office of National Statistics in the middle of every month at 8:30 GMT. Claimant Count Change measure the number of people in the UK economy who claim unemployment benefits but are actively seeking work. This statistics is considered to be a measure of the health of the UK labor market and is reported as a percentage change from the previous month. If you are trading GBP pairs like GBP/USD or GBP/JPY pairs then you should give this figure some importance. At least on the day that it is released you should plan for a higher level of volatility. You can find out the day when this statistics is released by checking Forex Factory Economic News Calender. Employment figures are taken very seriously by the market now a days especially when there is a down turn in the economy.

The Claimant Change released by the National Statistics presents the number of unemployment people in the UK. There is a tendency to influence the GBP volatility. Generally speaking, a rise in this indicator has negative implications for consumer spending which discourage economic growth. Generally, a high reading is seen as negative (or bearish) for the GBP, while a low reading is seen as positive (or bullish).