UK Youth Unemployment Falls as Economy 'Moves Out of the Slow Lane'

Britain's youth unemployment numbers have fallen as the amount of 16 to 24 year olds out of work dropped to 958,000 in the last three months.

The Office for National Statistics' Labour Market Survey revealed that there were 1,000 more young people in work when compared against the March to May period.

But the survey demonstrated that the total unemployment rate for UK workers was more promising.

The research found that the jobless rate remained stable at 7.7%, but there were 18,000 more people working than there were from March to May 2013.

The survey also revealed that the inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 22.2%, down 0.2% from March to May 2013 and down 0.3% from a year earlier.

In total, there were 8.95 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 83,000 from March to May 2013 and down 88,000 from a year earlier.

"The statistics, coupled with recent growth figures, show that the recovery is starting to accelerate," John Salt, website director for Totaljobs.com, said.

"Robust data, like new car sales, demonstrates that there is economic stimulus beyond the services industry - which has continued to perform strongly - and suggests that the economy is moving out of the slow lane."

The ONS said total pay rose by 0.7% compared with June to August 2012 and regular pay rose by 0.8% over the same period.

But Andrew Hunter, co-founder of job website Adzuna, argued that wages are being outpaced by inflation.

He explained that "employees are still to feel a difference in their wallets. It's especially hard for graduates, who have seen their average starting salary drop over 10% year-on-year in many parts of the country."