British jobless figure falls to lowest figure for 42 years

British jobless figure reached its lowest figure in 42 years, data released on Wednesday revealed.

The unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in the three months to February, according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the official data body.

Strong demand for labor is translating into a shift from part-time to full-time employment, and an increase in the average number of hours worked per week by both full-time and part-time employees.

The number of job vacancies increased by 2.1 percent between the last quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017 to 767,000, the highest level on record.

A continued pick-up in consumer price inflation sees annual real wage growth weaken to its lowest rate since 2014.

The number of people in work increased by 39,000 to 31.84 million, with an increase in full-time employment of 146,000 partly offset by a fall in part-time employment down 107,000.

Average weekly earnings for employees increased by 2.3 percent including bonuses, and by 2.2 percent excluding bonuses, compared with a year earlier.

However, adjusted for inflation, average weekly earnings grew by 0.2 percent including bonuses and by 0.1 percent excluding bonuses, over the year, the slowest rate of growth since 2014. Endit