The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Britain fell again last month, according to new figures from National Statistics (NS) The claimant count declined by 5,800 to reach 928,300 in December, the lowest level since September 1975, NS said. The figure was broadly in line with expectations and it left the unemployment rate unchanged at 3.1pc for the fifth straight month "The UK economy may be slowing, but thanks to Government employment schemes and public sector hiring unemployment remains low," said Niall Dunne, an economist at Ulster Bank in Dublin The broader ILO measure showed that that the unemployment level was 1.515 million in November, down 5,000 on the previous three months Employment rose by 107,000 to 27.78 million in the three months to November. Data on earnings showed headline average earnings rose 0.1pc in the three months to November from the three months to October and were up 3.8pc year-on-year. This is still well below the Bank of England's 4.5pc comfort level, which it monitors for indications of potential inflation pressure. //www.fxcentre.com