Corrects month in the first para
The U.K. claimant count declined by 7,300 in April from a month ago, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday. Economists had forecast a decrease of 3,000 for April.
The number of people claiming jobseekers' allowances totaled 1.52 million. The claimant count rate fell slightly to 4.5 percent in April, while it was forecast to remain unchanged at 4.6 percent.
During January to March, the ILO unemployment rate was 7.8 percent of the economically active population, up 0.1 percentage points from October to December.
Data showed that average weekly earnings excluding bonus payments rose 0.8 percent during January to March compared with the same period a year earlier. This was the lowest growth rate since comparable records began in 2001.
Including bonus, average weekly earnings increased 0.4 percent annually. This growth rate has not been lower since March to May 2009.
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