The United Kingdom?s unemployment rate fell to the lowest rate in five years: 7.1%. The drop in December was much larger than economists expected and represents a significant drop from the 7.4% rate in November. The drop is also significant because the Bank of England has said that it may raise interest rates in the near future, but only if the unemployment rate falls to 7% or below. New unemployment claims was also down by 32,000 throughout December, slightly less than the drop of 34,300 in November. Perhaps more significantly, the number of people employed in the fourth quarter rose to a record 30.2 million.
See "U.K. Unemployment Drops to 7.1% as BOE Threshold Looms", Scott Hamilton, San Francisco Gate, January 21, 2014