Catherwood LibraryILR School

Average UK wages experienced stronger than expected growth between May and July as unemployment fell again. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said average pay was 3.5% higher than at the same time last year. The rise came despite public sector wages growing at their weakest rate since May 1998. Meanwhile, the number claiming benefits fell by 4,200 to 852,900 in August taking the unemployment rate to 2.6% - its lowest level since April 2005. The fall in the number if people out of work and claiming benefits was much smaller than expected. The ILO measure of unemployment, which counts the number of people out of work and actively seeking employment, fell by 28,000 to 1,649,000 in the three months to July compared with the same period of 2006.