DHAKA: Total UK unemployment dropped between April and June in the run-up to the Brexit vote, official figures indicate.

The UK’s jobless total fell by 52,000 to 1.64 million, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.9%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, reports the BBC.

The number of people on the claimant count in July, the first month since the UK’s vote to leave the EU, was 763,600, down 8,600 from June.

Wages excluding bonuses rose 2.3% in the three months to June, the ONS said.

Including bonuses, earnings growth was 2.4%.

“The labor market continued on a strong trend in the second quarter of 2016, with a new record employment rate,” said ONS statistician David Freeman.

“However, little of today’s data cover the period since the result of the EU referendum became known, with only claimant count and vacancies going beyond June - to July for the former and to May-July for the latter,” he added.

The jobless total is now at its lowest for eight years, while the unemployment rate is at its lowest since the summer of 2005, according to the ONS figures.

The employment rate reached a record high of 74.5%, with 31.8 million people in work in the three months to June - 172,000 more than the previous quarter.

BDST: 1719 HRS, AUG 17, 2016
RR