UK unemployment rate eases further to 7.8%

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that UK unemployment fell in the three months to May.

According to the ONS, the number of people unemployed in the UK fell to 2.468 million, boosted by a record rise in part-time work.

The latest figures means the unemployment rate dipped to 7.8% from 7.9% - the lowest since January and below forecasts of a flat reading.

In the meantime, the number of Britons claiming jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) fell by 20,800 to 1.46 million, according to the ONS. However, this was marginally higher than the 20,000 analysts had forecast.

The latest figures drove the claimant count rate down to 4.5% - the lowest since March 2009.

While the figures suggest the jobs market is slowly recovering, there are long-term risks as a consequence of Government spending cuts, which are set to lead to thousands of redundancies in the public sector.

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