–Jun claimant count unemployment -20,800; rate 4.5%
–May-May ILO unemployment -34,000 q/q; rate 7.8%
–May total weekly earnings +2.7% 3m y/y vs +4.1% in Apr
–May regular weekly earnings +1.8% 3m y/y vs +1.9% in Apr

LONDON (MNI) – Claimant count unemployment posted its fifth
consecutive monthly decline in June, with the rate falling to its lowest
level for more than a year, figures released by National Statistics
showed Wednesday.

Claimant count unemployment fell 20,000 between May and June, in
line with the median forecast from City economists. The claimant count
unemployment rate fell to 4.5% from 4.6% in the previous month the
lowest level since March 2009.

The official ILO data are now more in line with the claimant count
figures with unemployment down 34,000 in the latest three month period
ending May compared with the previous three months. This was the first
quarterly drop since the three months to January this year.

The rate of ILO unemployment declined to 7.8% from 8%.

There have been growing fears that unemployment would continue to
rise sharply during 2010 but this latest data show a more resilient
labour market that many had forecast.

Employment also rose sharply in the latest quarter, by 160,000, the
highest increase since the three months to August 2006. Questions will
be raised, however, over the composition of employment growth with
148,000 of those jobs being part-time employment.

National Statistics said that 27% of the workforce were now in
part-time employment, the highest since records began in 1992.

Wage pressures remained subdued with average weekly earnings
falling back to 2.7% in May from 4.1% in April. High April growth was
affected by high bonus payments this year compared with falls in April
2009.

Excluding bonuses, average weekly earnings for regular pay eased to
1.8% from 1.9%.

National Statistics also announced that changes to the ILO data due
next month will mean that the employment rate will be on average 1.8
percentage point lower than previously estimated. The changes to the
data reflect a change from working age definitions of employment to a
new format.

–London bureau: 00 44 207 862 7491; email: drobinson@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$B$$$,MABDS$]