By Marcus Leach
Official data released today (Wednesday) revealed that unemployment in the UK fell unexpectedly by 45,000 between January and March.
According to official figures the number of people now unemployed is 2.63 million, with the the jobless rate down to 8.2%.
Analysts had forecast that the rate would be unchanged at 8.3%, but the Office for National Statistics data shows a welcome, if not surprising, drop.
"For a number of months now, employment has been growing and this is starting to feed through into improving unemployment figures," Employment Minister Chris Grayling said.
"However, we still face significant international uncertainty so we need to hold firm on our current economic strategy and continue to do everything we can to ensure unemployment continues to fall."
With continued problems in the eurozone and a Bank of England report due out later today, Jeremy Cook is warning that the picture isn't all rosy.
“The on-going weakness in labour markets are an obvious concern," Jeremy Cook, chief economist at foreign exchange company, World First, said.
"With attention once again focused on the prospect of further economic Armageddon, courtesy of the fresh pain in the Eurozone, the decreased business confidence will see hiring levels remain low for a considerable time longer.
“The Bank of England’s inflation report (due later this morning) is expected to show that wage growth (which disappointed at 0.6% vs consensus of 1%) remains significantly behind the UK inflation profile; working families will remain poorer in real terms for longer, in other words.”
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