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| UK unemployment falls by 146,000 to 2.02 million | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| UK unemployment fell by 146,000 to 2.02 million in the three months to the end of July, official figures show. | |
| The unemployment rate fell to 6.2%, its lowest rate since the September-to-November period of 2008. | |
| The Office for National Statistics figures also showed that the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in August fell by 37,200 to 966,500. | |
| Average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, in the May to July period, rose by 0.7% from a year earlier. | |
| Including bonuses, average earnings rose by 0.6%, but this is still much lower than the current inflation rate of 1.5%. | |
| The ONS said that over the year the number of unemployed had fallen by 468,000 - the largest annual fall in unemployment since 1988. | |
| But although the number of people in employment rose by 74,000 to 30.61 million over the quarter, this was the smallest quarterly increase since the April to June quarter in 2013. | |
| It was the first time in six years that the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance had fallen below one million. | |
| Responding to the figures, Chancellor George Osborne tweeted: "Today's employment stats mark another step towards full employment. But still much more to do." | |
| The unemployment figures are based on the Labour Force Survey, in which the ONS speaks to 60,000 households once a quarter, making it the country's biggest household survey. | |
| The ONS is 95% confident that the figure of 2.02 million unemployed is within 77,000 of being accurate either way. |