--UK Mar headline avg earnings up annual 5.1%
--UK adj Apr claimant count unemployment dn 10,200 from Mar
--UK Mar headline avg earnings well above mkt forecasts
--UK Mar unadj earnings ex bonuses 4.8 pct pts, bonuses -0.6 pct pts
--UK Jan-Mar ILO unemployment rate 5.1%, down vs Oct-Dec 5.3%
--UK Jan-Mar ILO unemployment level down 64,000 on Oct-Dec
--UK Jan-Mar manufacturing unit labor costs dn 0.6% on yr
--UK Mar single month avg earnings up provisional 4.4% on yr
--UK Feb headline avg earnings rev to up 5.2% on yr vs up 5.0%
--ONS: UK Feb avg earnings rev up on higher financial bonuses
--ONS: UK 2001 financial bonuses paid in Feb not Mar
--UK Apr claimant count unemployment rate 3.2% vs Mar 3.3%
--UK Jan-Mar Labor Force Survey employment rate 74.8%
--UK Jan-Mar Labor Force Survey employment up 100,000 on qtr
--UK Apr new job center vacancies up 2,800 at 235,600
--UK Apr stock of job center vacancies dn 6,600 at 388,300

London, May 16 (BridgeNews) - The U.K. labor market continued to tighten in March and April, according to the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday. However, although March headline average earnings were stronger than expected at 5.1%, that was due to a sharp upward revision to the February figures. The single month annual rate of earnings growth in March fell back to 4.4%, compared with February's 6.5%.
* * * Analysts had expected March headline average earnings of 4.8%. Meanwhile the claimant count fell faster than expected, down 10,200 from March compared with the 2,125 fall that markets had forecast. ILO unemployment also fell to a new record low rate of 5.1%, while employment in the first three months of the year rose to a new all time high of 28.1 million, up 100,000 from the previous quarter.