The U.K. unemployment rate held steady at the lowest level since 2005, while the employment rate eased marginally from a record-high during the three months ended October.
The jobless rate was 4.8 percent in the three months to October, down from 5.2 percent a year ago, but unchanged from the September quarter, the labor market statistics from the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday.
The figure has not been lower since July to September 2005 and also matched economists' expectations.
Unemployment decreased by 16,000 from the three months to July to 1.62 million.
Meanwhile, the employment rate dropped slightly to 74.4 percent from the joint record high of 74.5 percent seen in May to July.
Employment decreased by 6,000 to 31.76 million. However, it increased by 342,000 from the prior year.
The labor market appears to have flattened off in recent months, ONS Senior Statistician David Freeman said.
Average earnings including bonuses rose by 2.5 percent, faster than the expected growth of 2.3 percent. Excluding bonuses, earnings advanced 2.6 percent compared with a year earlier.
Further, data showed that the claimant count held steady at 2.3 percent in November as economists had expected. The rate has been at 2.3 percent since August.
The number of people claiming unemployment related benefits rose by 2,400 from October, which was smaller than the expected increase of 6,500.
IHS Global Insight Economist Howard Archer said he suspects both the economy and the labor market to be increasingly pressurized by mounting uncertainties over the coming months.
Archer expects the unemployment rate to start trending up before too long and suspects that it could reach 5.5 percent by the end of 2017.
Paul Hollingsworth, a UK economist at Capital Economics, said any weakening in the labor market is unlikely to be particularly severe. The economist also forecast the jobless rate to peak at about 5.5 percent, which would still be low by past standards.
by RTT Staff Writer
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