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British unemployment falls to 5.1%, lowest since 2005
Britain`s unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, official data showed on Wednesday, but the government warned of headwinds from weak growth at home and abroad.
London: Britain`s unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, official data showed on Wednesday, but the government warned of headwinds from weak growth at home and abroad.
Unemployment dropped to 5.1 percent in the three months to November -- the lowest rate since October 2005 -- the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
It had stood at 5.2 percent in October 2015.
The jobless total was 1.68 million people -- 239,000 fewer than in the same period a year earlier.
While welcoming the data, finance minister George Osborne warned in a statement of "a dangerous cocktail of new risks this year in the global economy".
The ONS added that average weekly wages, including bonuses, rose by 2.0 percent from a year earlier, outpacing inflation which languished close to zero.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney on Tuesday said it was still too early to lift Britain`s record-low interest rate, citing weak global growth and low inflation.
The BoE has left borrowing costs at an all-time low of 0.50 percent since March 2009 as it seeks to stimulate economic growth in Britain.