Jobless figure boost for Blair

By JIM ARMITAGE
Updated:

 

LABOUR received a fillip to its General Election manifesto launch as figures showed unemployment dropping further below one million. The claimant count fell 10,200 in April to 975,800 - the lowest since 1975 and creating a rate of

3.2% - while on the Government-preferred broader survey measure counting all those actively searching for work, the rate fell to 5.1% in the three months to March against 5.3% in the previous three months.

Unemployment has now been below the million mark for three months running and is likely to be trumpeted by Prime Minister Tony Blair in the election campaign.

Headline annual average earnings growth in the three months to March jumped 5.1% after an upwards revision to 5.2% for the month before. The previous month's figures had been skewed by bonus payments.

This left the earnings higher than analysts had been expecting. They remain way above the 4.5% comfort zone considered by the Bank of England to be compatible with low inflation.

Analysts focused on the strong earnings figures. Jeremy Hawkins at Bank of America said: 'This must wipe out any hope of an interest rate cut in June and make for a major risk to a cut in July.'

Sterling was steady at $1.4250.

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