British official unemployment rate dips to 7.8%

Britain’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.8 percent in the quarter to the end of September compared with 7.9 percent in the three months to the end of August, official data showed on Wednesday. The number of unemployed people fell to 2.514 million from 2.528 million, the Office for National Statistics added in a statement. However, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 10,100 in October to 1.58 million — the biggest increase since September 2011. Analysts said this indicated that the employment market was entering a new weak period after a recent bounce thanks to the creation of temporary jobs for the recent London Olympics. “On the surface, this is a mixed set of labour market data, but scratch beneath the surface and there are signs of some softening in the labour market’s recent impressive resilience,” said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight research group. “The most obvious sign of softening in the labour market came in a 10,100 rise in the number of claimant count unemployed which was the largest increase for 13 months and followed a small rise of 800 in September.” Britain recently powered out of its longest double-dip recession since the 1950s after the British economy returned to growth in the third quarter with a robust gain of 1.0 percent but the outlook remains weak amid financial strains in the neighbouring eurozone.