Finance News UK unemployment falls. UK unemployment has fallen in March, bringing in the best rate since mid-2008.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in the first quarter employment for those aged 16 to 64 rose to 73.5%, up from 72.5% a year earlier. Employment was up by 202,000 in the three months to March, reaching a record high of 31.1 million.

Unemployment for the first quarter was 5.5%, down from 6.8% a year earlier. Wages grew in the three month period too, with average weekly earnings up 2.2%, excluding bonuses, up from 1.8% the month earlier. The employment data is particularly encouraging as “the growth in employment was mainly in employees working full-time,” says Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight.

We expect the number of jobless to trend steadily downward over the coming months, taking the unemployment rate down to 5.2% by the end of 2015 and to 4.9% by the end of 2016,”  he adds.

Source: Money Marketing (published 13 May)