Unemployment continues to fall
The number of unemployed people fell by 99,000 to 1.68 million in the three months to November, according to official figures.
The fall in numbers under the Labour Force Survey count was enough to cut the unemployment rate to 5.1% from 5.4%.
The fall was fairly evenly split between the sexes. The number of unemployed men fell by 51,000 to 919,000 and their unemployment rate was down to 5.2% from 5.5%.
The fall in female unemployment was 47,000, cutting their total to 756,000 and their unemployment rate fell from 5.2% to 4.9%.
On the other main jobless count — the claimant count — numbers were down by 4,300 to 785,900 in December.
Unemployment under this count only includes claimants of employment-related-benefits, people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and the new means-tested Universal Credit. However, the decrease in numbers was not sufficient to affect the joblessness rate which remained at 2.3%.
The decrease was due to a fall in male claimant numbers, down by 6,100 to 502,100, but with a joblessness rate unchanged at 2.8%.
Women claimant numbers were up by 1,800 to 283,900 and their joblessness rate increased to 1.8% from 1.7%.