The UK labour market continued to tighten in October with the claimant count falling by a forecast-beating 4,500 to reach 940,500, according to figures released today by National Statistics. Analysts had expected no change following last month's upwardly revised fall of 1,200. However, the broader ILO measure showed the UK unemployment rate was up 0.2pc in the three months to September at 5.3pc, compared to the previous quarter
The ILO unemployment rate was last higher in the three months to October 2000. Based on the ILO definition, the unemployment level was 1.54 million, up 45,000 on the previous three months and up 61,000 on the same period a year ago. Findings of the latest labour force survey revealed that total employment fell by 36,000 to 27.66 million in the three months to September but was up 175,000 over the year.
The LFS employment rate in the three months to September stood at 74.3pc of the working age population, down 0.2pc from the previous three-month period and unchanged from a year earlier. //www.fxcentre.com