UK unemployment down 50.000 to 2.53m
The UK jobless figures are down. According to Office of National Statistics, there were 50,000 fewer people looking for a job in the three months to August, meaning a total of 2.53 million people are out of work.
So with less people needing to head to recruitment fairs like this one, it's a double-whammy of good news for the government as 4,000 less people claimed benefit last month for being out of work too. It's left analysts scratching their heads in a time of double-dip recession and stifled economic growth. Unemployment among young people has also dropped below the one million mark for the first time in a year.
212,000 more jobs in the market as a whole means that the number of people actually in a job is at an all-time high; almost 30 million people now work.
Employment Minister Mark Hoban said that's 'a real landmark'. The Labour Party meanwhile questioned the quality of the jobs that are available – claiming they were mostly part-time or self-employed.
Written and presented by Marverine Cole.