Unemployment in Britain fell again in March to its lowest level in more than a quarter of a century, while earnings growth slowed to the lowest on record, official data showed today.
The strong economic figures come just hours before Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Gordon Brown delivers his annual budget to parliament, which is widely expected to hike taxes to pay for improved public services.
The Office for National Statistics said the claimant count measure of unemployment fell 6,000 to just 939,600 last month, the lowest since October 1975 and giving a jobless rate of 3.1 per cent.
Britain's economy has managed to keep growing over the past year despite a slowdown in the world economy and unemployment has now fallen every month this year, defying expectations it would rise through 2002 after economic growth ground temporarily to a halt in the fourth quarter.
Growth in average earnings, a key measure of wage inflation pressures, fell to 1.9 per cent in the three months to February from 2.9 per cent in January, the lowest since records began a decade ago. It was forced down by the fact that financial sector bonuses this year are much lower than last.