Unemployment rate falls to 7.7%

The jobless rate is down 0.4% from the same period last year. 

There were 2.49 million unemployed people aged 16 and over, down 24,000 from February to April 2013 and down 105,000 from a year earlier.

The unemployment level has become more signifcant after the Bank of England said in August  it would not raise the base rate of interest from 0.5% until unemployment falls to 7% or below.

Governor Mark Carney said the 7% mark represents the point at which the BoE will "reassess" its interest rate policy.

However, last week the Trade Union Congress (TUC) claimed the unemployment rate "could be almost double" the headline figure of 2.5 million when groups such as the economically inactive are added.

As well as the 2.5 million official jobless figure, a further 2.26 million people want a job, but are not classified as unemployed, the report said.

 

 

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• Topics
• Economics / Markets
• Mark Carney
• Office of National Statistics
• Bank of England