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| UK unemployment rate falls to fresh 11 year low | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The UK unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9%, the lowest since July 2005, according to official figures. | The UK unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9%, the lowest since July 2005, according to official figures. |
| The unemployment total fell to 1.65 million in the March-to-May period, down 54,000 from the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. | The unemployment total fell to 1.65 million in the March-to-May period, down 54,000 from the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. |
| The number of people in work rose by 176,000, with the employment rate remaining at a record high of 74.4%. | The number of people in work rose by 176,000, with the employment rate remaining at a record high of 74.4%. |
| The figures cover the period before the UK vote to leave the European Union. | |
| Earnings, not adjusted for inflation and excluding bonuses, rose by 2.2% compared with last year. | |
| There were 23.19 million people working full-time, 401,000 more than for a year earlier. | |
| "The labour market continued to strengthen in spring 2016, with record employment and the unemployment rate at its lowest since 2005," said ONS statistician Nick Palmer. | |
| Change ahead | |
| But Paul Hollingsworth, UK economist at Capital Economics, said the improvement in unemployment would almost certainly change in the coming months: | |
| "The vote to leave the EU will almost certainly now cause some firms to put hiring decisions on hold or cut back headcounts altogether. | |
| "Indeed, we expect the unemployment rate to begin to drift up over the coming quarters. The upshot is that these may be the best set of labour market figures for a while." | |
| The Bank of England had a similar view in its separate monthly summary of business conditions, which was also released on Wednesday. | |
| It said: "A majority of firms spoken with did not expect a near-term impact from the result on their investment or hiring plans. | |
| "But around a third of contacts thought there would be some negative impact on those plans over the next twelve months." |