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British unemployment rate drops to lowest level since 2008

Xinhua, May 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

The British unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent in the three months to March 2015, recording the lowest level since mid 2008, official data showed Wednesday.

The unemployment rate was in line with the market estimation consensus, down only slightly from the 5.6 percent from the three months to February 2015.

There were 1.83 million unemployed people in the first quarter of 2015, down by 35,000 from the fourth quarter of 2014, and 386,000 less than a year earlier, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.

The employment rate for those aged 16 to 64 in Q1 2015 was 73.5 percent, the highest since comparable records began in 1971, figures showed.

There were 31.10 million people in employment aged 16 and over, 202,000 more than in Q4 2014 and 564,000 more than a year earlier, said the government's statistics department.

In the same period, British employees' total pay was 1.9 percent higher than a year earlier. Pay excluding bonuses for employees was 2.2 percent higher, noted ONS.

Meanwhile, claims for unemployment benefits, fell by 12,600 to 763,800 in April 2015 from the previous month. Compared with a year earlier, it was down by 349,400, data also showed. Endit