Looks like the US full-employment recession is spreading:

UK jobless rate falls to 5.2 percent in latest quarter

The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom in the last quarter of 2007 fell to 5.2 percent, down from 5.4 percent in the previous quarter, the government said Wednesday.

Average earnings, including bonuses, rose 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said.

Yes, unemployment is a lagging indicator, but the subprime housing collapse is well over a year old. And the 4.9% rate in the US is, even by Yellen’s standards, ‘very close’ to full-employment.

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