UK jobs and wage data from August 2018

REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

• Britain’s unemployment rate drops to just 4%, the
  lowest level since the early 1970s.
• Economists polled in the run up to the release had
  expected an unemployment rate of 4.2%.
• After increasing sharply during the financial crisis,
  the UK’s unemployment rate has been rapidly dropping for almost
  a decade.
• The number of people in work also increased over the
  three months from April to June, with 32.39 people in
  work.

The rate of unemployment in the UK fell to just 4% between April
and June this year, the lowest level since comparable records
began in the early 1970s,
according to the latest data from the Office for National
Statistics, published on Tuesday morning.

The ONS said that the UK’s unemployment rate, those not in work
but who want a job, dropped from 4.2% over the previous period.

It had been expected to remain at the 4.2% level by economists
polled in the run up to the data release.

There were 1.36 million unemployed people in the UK
over the three months, the ONS said, down 65,000 from the
previous data period.

More people were in work over the period, the ONS added,
saying that there were 32.39 million people in the UK with jobs,
an increase of 42,000.

“The number of people in work has continued to edge ahead,
though the employment rate was unchanged on the quarter,” senior
ONS statistician Matt Hughes said in a statement.

“However, the number of vacancies is a new record high,
while the unemployment rate is now at its lowest since the winter
of 1974-75.”

The high number of vacancies suggests that the number of
Brits in employment could rise significantly in the near
future.

After increasing sharply during the financial crisis, the
UK’s unemployment rate has been rapidly dropping for almost a
decade, as the chart below illustrates:

Office for National Statistics

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