Official figures out
Brexit has not hampered the UK’s job scene as the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance unexpectedly dropped in July.
According to figures by the Office of National Statistics, the claimant count fell by 8,600, compared with expectations of a rise of 9,500.
The unemployment rate in the three months to the end of June stood still at 4.9% while average weekly earnings excluding bonuses rose 2.3% over the same period.
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 quarter before. Unemployment fell by 54,000 to 1.65 million over the same period.
The claimant count, including those on jobseeker’s allowance, increased by 400 in June to 759,100, the fourth consecutive monthly rise.
“The labour market continued on a strong trend in the second quarter of 2016, with a new record employment rate,” said ONS statistician David Freeman.
“However, little of today’s data cover the period since the result of the EU referendum became known, with only claimant count and vacancies going beyond June – to July for the former and to May-July for the latter,” he added.
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