UK unemployment rate falls to lowest since 2008 – but pay suffers dip

The UK's headline unemployment rate dropped to 6.4 per cent in the three months to June, which is down from 6.5 per cent in May and the lowest level since late 2008.

 

UK employment rose in the second quarter of this year to 30.6m, up 1.5 per cent on the same period last year, equivalent to 820,000 people, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

 

This means the employment rate now stands at 73 per cent, marking both an annual and quarterly increase. 

 

Unemployment is now at 2.08m – a drop of 132,000 from the previous quarter.

 

The number of people who are unemployed fell 1.4 per cent year-on-year to 2.08m, down nearly half a million (437,000) on the same period last year, while the number of “economically inactive” people – those who are out of work and not seeking new jobs – was 130,000 down year-on-year to 8.86m. 

 

However, pay including bonuses fell by a marginal 0.2 per cent compared with the equivalent period in 2013, which the ONS blamed on “an unusually high growth rate for April 2013” when bonuses were paid out later. Pay excluding bonuses rose 0.6 per cent.