British Unemployment Rate Falls 

(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) National Bureau of Statistics today announced that the amount of people unemployed in Britain fell by 35,000 in the quarter to February, leaving 2.65 million people out of work and a jobless rate of 8.3%, the new figures showed.

The number of people employed rose by 53,000 to a total of 29 million. Despite the figure being down 57,000 from a year ago, the government is hoping that this is the start of a continual rise in the nation's employment prospects.

Youth unemployment is also showing signs of decline. The number of unemployed 16-to-24-year-olds fell by 9,000 since November; the total now stands at 1.03 million.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "Today's figures are a step in the right direction but we still have a long way to go. We are pushing ahead with our strategy to promote investment and new jobs in the private sector and support people currently without work to take up those jobs".

While the amount of people claiming jobseeker's allowance has gone up for the 17th month in a row, March's increase of 3,600 has been the smallest rise since last December. The total amount of people claiming is now 1.61 million.

Despite the promising figures, there are concerns surrounding underemployment, workers taking lesser roles than they desire, as numbers showed an increase of 89,000 in the amount of people taking on part-time work due to a lack of full-time jobs. The total of 1.4 million in part-time employment is an all time high since records began in 1992.