The British pound weakened against the Japanese yen after UK employment data showed that average weekly earnings excluding bonuses rose 5.4% in the three months to November, down from 5.6% previously and slightly below the 5.5% forecast. Unemployment rose to 4.4%, while payroll employment fell by 47,000 in December, the first decline since mid-2021. GBP/JPY dropped about 0.3% to around 192.50 as traders increased expectations that the Bank of England could begin cutting interest rates in the second quarter of 2025, potentially as early as May. Money markets priced a 70% probability of a cut by June, up from about 60% before the release. The yen also drew some support from safe-haven demand despite the Bank of Japan's ultra-loose policy. The existing record describes a separate UK employment release in which unemployment rose to 4.2% in the three months to January, employment fell by 23,000 and GBP/USD approached 1.3520; those figures are retained as an earlier, conflicting account rather than combined with the newer GBP/JPY report.