The number of people out of work and claiming benefit in Britain fell for the seventh month in a row in January to a fresh, 27-year low, official data showed today.
The Office for National Statistics said 928,500 Britons were on the "dole" last month, a bigger than expected fall of 3,500 on the month.
That is equivalent to just 3.1 per cent of the workforce and emphasises that the country's labour market, for now at least, is proving resilient to the growing gloom surrounding the economy.
The ONS also said the official measure of unemployment, which captures those out of work but not claiming benefit, also fell in the final quarter of 2002.
On that Labour Force Survey measure, unemployment fell to 1.506 million in October to December of last year, down a hefty 36,000 on the previous three months and 3,000 lower than the same period a year earlier.
That gave an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent compared to 5.3 per cent in the third quarter of the year.
There was also good news in the employment figures which showed 27.8 million people in work in the final quarter, a rise of 150,000 on the previous quarter to the highest level since records began in 1984.
But the strong job creation pictured was not shared by the country's struggling manufacturing sector where employment fell nearly 150,000 on the year to stand at 3.57 million in the fourth quarter, the lowest since comparable records began in 1985.
Growth in average earnings remained benign with the headline rate dropping back to 3.7 per cent in the three months to December from 3.8 per cent in the three months to November. Financial markets had expected an unchanged figure.