Jobless total at eight-year low in boost for new Government

The new Government has been given some good news on the jobs front with another fall in unemployment and a record number of people in work.

The employment rate reached a record high of 74.4%, with 31.7 million people in work in the three months to May - 176,000 more than the previous quarter.

A total of 1.65 million people are unemployed, a fall of 54,000 over the quarter and 201,000 compared with a year ago, giving a jobless rate of 4.9%.

The jobless total is now the lowest for eight years, while the rate is the lowest since the summer of 2005.

But the claimant count, including those on Jobseeker's Allowance, increased by 400 last month to 759,100, the fourth consecutive monthly rise.

Job vacancies were 10,000 down, to 747,000, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Average earnings increased by 2.3% in the year to May, 0.3% up on the previous month.

ONS statistician Nick Palmer said: "The labour market continued to strengthen in spring 2016, with record employment and the unemployment rate at its lowest since 2005.

"None of today's headline figures cover the period since the result of the EU referendum became known."

Other figures showed that the number of people classed as economically inactive has fallen by 46,000 to 8.8 million, the lowest for 13 years.

The figure, which includes those looking after a relative, on long-term sick leave, or who have given up looking for work, showed a record low of 5.5 million for women.

Full-time employees worked an average of 37.5 hours a week, slightly more than a year ago.