UK jobless rate eases to 7.7 pc

LONDON: Unemployment in Britain for the three months ending in August has eased to 7.7 percent, down a tenth of a point from the rate posted a month ago.

The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that the rate for the June-August period was also down from 7.8 percent in the preceding three months.

The employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 rose by two-tenths of a percent to 70.7 percent. The number of students and other economically inactive people declined by the same amount.

The agency says most of the gains in employment were from 143,000 more part-time workers, four times the number of people added to full-time jobs.