The number of people out of work and claiming benefit in the UK fell for the seventh month in a row in January to a fresh, 27-year low. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 928,500 people were on the dole last month, a bigger than expected fall of 3,500 on the month. The December figure, however, was revised up slightly to 932,000. That is equivalent to just 3.1pc of the workforce and emphasises that the country's labour market, for now at least, is proving resilient to the growing gloom surrounding the economy.
The ONS also said the official measure of unemployment, which captures those out of work but not claiming benefit, also fell in the final quarter of 2002. On the Labour Force Survey measure, unemployment fell to 1.506 million in October to December of last year, down a hefty 36,000 on the previous three months and 3,000 lower than the same period a year earlier. That gave an unemployment rate of 5.1pc compared to 5.3pc in the third quarter of the year. //www.fxcentre.com