Britain's jobless claims declined more-than-expected in August to the lowest since February 2009, official data showed Wednesday.
The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance decreased 32,600 to 1.40 million, the smallest since February 2009, the Office for National Statistics said. Economists had expected a fall of 21,000.
Consequently, the claimant count rate for August edged down to 4.2 percent from 4.3 percent in July. The rate was expected to remain unchanged at 4.3 percent.
The unemployment rate for three months to July came in at 7.7 percent, down 0.1 percentage point from February to April period. The rate was slightly below the expected 7.8 percent.
Average earnings excluding bonus payments rose 1 percent during May to July compared with the same period a year earlier. Including bonus payments, earnings climbed 1.1 percent.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.