TheNews

The U.K. unemployment rate fell less than expected in the August to October period, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday.



The jobless rate fell to 6 percent during August to October, down from 6.2 percent seen in the May to July period. Economists had forecast a rate of 5.9 percent.

During August to October, there were 1.96 million unemployed, 63,000 fewer than in the May to July period. This was the smallest quarterly decline since July to September 2013.

Compared with a year earlier, the number of unemployed people fell by 455,000.

The claimant count rate fell to 2.7 percent in November as expected, from 2.8 percent in October.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance decreased by 26,900 from October, while economists expected a decline of 20,000.

Pay including bonuses was 1.4 percent higher than a year earlier, more than the 1.2 percent increase expected by economists. Excluding bonus, earnings climbed 1.6 percent from last year.



More...