Recent figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that unemployment in the UK has fallen to 5.7% of the working population.
The figures show that 103,000 more people found work in the three months to December 2014. The employment rate now stands at 73.2%, marginally higher than the pre-crisis levels recorded in 2008.
Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the information as proof that the Government’s economic plan is working. He said: ‘I’m not saying we have solved all our problems in the British economy in the last four and a half years, but we are on our way’.
Average earnings rose to 2.1%, the ONS said, although excluding bonuses that figure drops to 1.7%.
With the economy showing signs of steady improvement and more competition in the jobs market, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors (IoD), James Sproule, said: ‘Two-thirds of IoD members are planning pay rises at least in line with inflation over the coming months’.