U.K.'s claimant count dropped by 3,000 month-on-month to 1.58 million in November, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. Economists had forecast it to rise by 7,000.
At the same time, the claimant count rate held steady at 4.8 percent as widely expected for November.
During three months to October, there were 2.51 million unemployed people, down 128,000 on a year earlier. The jobless rate was 7.8 percent, down 0.5 on a year ago. The rate matched economists' expectations.
Including bonus, total pay rose 1.8 percent during three months to October from the corresponding period of last year. At the same time, regular pay, excluding bonuses rose 1.7 percent.
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