UK jobless rate slips to 5.2 percent

Britain's unemployment rate declined to 5.2 percent in the three months to December, official data showed on Wednesday. That was the lowest reading since January 2006 and compared with 5.3 percent in the three months to November.
Under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) measure of unemployment, the rate stood at 5.3 percent for the three months to December. The ILO claimant count fell by 61,000 during the three months to December to 1.61 million, Britain's Office for National Statistics said.
According to the British government's preferred measure of unemployment, the rate stood at 2.5 percent in January, the lowest level since April 1975, and unchanged from December. The claimant count dropped by 10,800 to 794,600 people in January from December, to record the lowest level since June, 1975. That marked the sixteenth monthly drop in a row.