Unemployment in the North East has hit a record low and the region has lost its unwanted title of having the highest rate in the UK, new figures show.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that unemployment in the region in the three months to the end of August stood at 4.4%, the second month in a row that the rate had fallen significantly. There was another rise in the number of people judged ‘economically inactive’, however, with the North East having the highest rate in England, Scotland and Wales at 25.5%.
Nationally the UK’s unemployment rate dropped to its lowest for almost half a decade but more Britons left the labour market completely due to a rise in long-term sickness. The new data also showed another slight improvement in pay but it continues to lag far behind inflation.
