LONDON, Feb 11 - Unemployment in Britain fell to a fresh two-and-a-half year low in the final quarter of last year, official data showed on Wednesday, but growth in earnings unexpectedly slowed again. The Office for National Statistics said joblessness on the international-comparable ILO measure fell back 21,000 on the quarter to 1.46 million, the lowest since March to May of 2001, which set a record low. The jobless rate edged lower to 4.9 percent, the joint lowest since records began in 1984 and showing the continued resilience of the British labour market to the economic slowdown of the past three years. There was also a sharp fall in the so-called "claimant count" measure of unemployment, which captures only those drawing "dole". The January drop of 13,400 was the sharpest fall in two-and-a-half years and took the total to 892,100, the lowest level since September 1975.
Under that measure, which has fallen for eight consecutive months, the jobless rate dropped to just 2.9 percent, the lowest since June 1975. There was also good news on the employment front as numbers in work grew 5,000 in the final quarter from the previous quarter to 28.16 million, the highest since the August to October rolling quarter which set a record high of 28.17 million. But in spite of the tightness of the labour market, there was no evidence of a pickup in wage pressures as growth in average earnings of employees unexpectedly slowed to 3.4 percent in the final quarter from 3.5 percent in the three months to November. The Bank of England has often said it is unconcerned by earnings growth below 4.5 percent.//www..com