Unemployment Down 0.5%

The percentage of economically active people unemployed from September to November 2013, known as the unemployment rate, was 7.1%. It is 0.5% lower than from June to August 2013 and down 0.6% from 2012. There were 2.32m unemployed people aged over 16, 167,000 less than June to August and 172,000 down over the year. The employment rate was 72.1% equal to 30.15m people.

There were 8.93m economically inactive people, down 22,000. The economic inactivity rate was 22.2% down 0.1% on June to August and 0.2% on the year.

There were pay rises in both total pay and regular pay of 0.9% compared with September to November 2012. Average weekly earnings were £475/week including bonuses and £447/week excluding bonuses.