UK Unemployment Rate At Lowest In 5 Years
The number of people out of work in the UK fell by 133,000 to a new low of 2.2 million from January to March. The rate fell to a five year low of 6.8% with the number of people in work rising to 30.43 million which is the highest since the records began in 1971. Along with the rise in employment, the average earnings from January to March increased by 1.7% from a year earlier.
Overall, 283,000 more people found work between January and March – the largest quarterly increase since 1971. This has been helped due to an increase in the number of people becoming self employed. This total has risen 183,000 to 4.55 million which has caused the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance to fall by 25,100 to 1.12 million in April.
The decrease in unemployed workers also affected those between 16-24 years old, with the number of unemployed falling by 48,000 to 868,000 which is the lowest for five years.
