UK jobless total falls to 1.63 million

jobless

The BBC reports, the unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent, down from 5.5 per cent a year earlier but unchanged from last month’s report, the Office for National Statistics said.

Average weekly earnings including bonuses increased by 2.3 per cent on last year, down slightly from the previous report.

The proportion of people in work hit a record high of 74.5 per cent.

“These figures show continued labour market improvement,” the ONS said.

The ONS also pointed out that its headline labour force figures and earnings data are for May to July, so only cover one month since the result of the EU referendum.

In August, the claimant count, including Jobseeker’s Allowance, jumped by 2,400 from the previous month to 771,000.

The claimant count is treated with some caution by economists as the move to Universal Credit has made it much harder to calculate.