Official figures show Britain’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 7.7 percent for the three-month period to August, further evidence that Europe’s third-largest economy continues to strengthen.
The Office of National Statistics said Wednesday that the number of those out of work dropped 0.1 percentage points from the three-month period through May. In total, there were 2.49 million unemployed people aged 16 and over, down 18,000 from the previous period.
The unemployment rate is now a key economic indicator for the Bank of England — under its new governor, Mark Carney, the bank has said it won’t consider raising interest rates until the jobless rate drops to 7 percent.
The bank’s main interest rate has been at a record low of 0.5 percent since March 2009. Policymakers have also refrained from adding more stimulus, after having pumped 375 billion pounds ($600 billion) into the economy through a bond-buying program.
via Mainichi
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