Unemployment falls to 5.5 per cent and average earnings up by 1.9 per cent

George Osborne on May 12, 2015 for an Economic and Financial Affairs European Council meeting in Brussels yesterday

Unemployment fell by 35,000 between January and March to 1.83m, a fall of hat is 5.5 percent.

It was 5.7% from October to December.

Official figures show that at 1.83m it means unemployment has now dipped to a seven-year low, although the latest quarterly cut of 35,000 was the smallest for almost two years.

The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance fell by 12,600 in April to 763,000, the 30th consecutive monthly reduction.

Employment continued to rise, up by 202,000 in the three months to March to more than 31m, the highest since records began in 1971.

Some very good news for the new Conservative government. George Osborne, the Chancellor, is very happy.

He says: “Today we see further proof the plan is working with unemployment falling, record numbers of people in work and confirmation that regular pay packets are growing at their fastest in four years, putting more in people’s pockets and stretching family budgets that bit further.

“With full-time employees making up nearly all of the increase in employment over the past year, this shows we are on the way to our goal of full employment.