UK unemployment rate ticks lower

(Sharecast News) - The UK unemployment rate unexpectedly eased in April, official data showed on Thursday. According to the Office for National Statistics, the unemployment rate was estimated to be 4.9% in the three months to April, up 0.3 percentage points on the year but down 0.3 percentage points on the last quarter. The market had been expecting no change.

Average earnings, meanwhile, ticked higher, rising 4.4% or 3.4% once bonuses were stripped out. Regular earnings increased 5.1% in the public sector, but by a more modest 2.9% in the private sector, the lowest rate in five and a half years.

A number of measures did point to some softening in the labour market, however. Payroll numbers continued to fall, by 0.5% year-on-year, with new recruits at their lowest level in five years. The claimant count for May was also higher, at 1.7m.

But Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: "The labour market remained broadly stable in the latest quarter.

"Overall employment was little changed, with some signs of workers moving into self-employment."