"It has been a bright spot among the data in the last year or so"
- Samuel Tombs, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd.
The U.K. labour market is showing some signs of recovery in the beginning of 2013, as jobless claims fell more than expected and job creation surged, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The number of jobless claims fell 12,500 from December to 1.54 million, more than doubling expectations, while the number of unemployed people dropped by 14,000 between October and December to 2.5 million. And even though the number of people in work climbed to 29.7 million during the fourth quarter, the most since records began in 1971, the overall jobless rate climbed to 7.8%, up from 7.7% in the three months through November. Despite the slight increase, the level of unemployment in the U.K. is lower, compared with 7.9% in the U.S. and 11.7% in the Eurozone. Latest data are showing the resilience of the labour market amid a fragile economic recovery.
"It has been a bright spot among the data in the last year or so," said Samuel Tombs, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London. "The employment surveys have been on an improving trend, suggesting there are further gains in employment ahead. There are reasons to expect this strong trend to continue over the next few months but over a longer horizon we're sceptical it can be maintained."
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