The unemployment rate is the lowest since 1974
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Employers are struggling to cope with unprecedented labour shortages as job vacancies outstrip the number of people looking for work for the first time on record, new official figures have revealed.
The number of unfilled positions in the UK rose 2.7 per cent, or 33,700, to a new all-time high of 1.295 million in the February and April quarter, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Meanwhile the unemployment total dropped to 1.257 million in the three months from January to March. That is a jobless rate of 3.7 per cent, the lowest since the autumn of 1974.
