Number out of work falls but pace of drop is slowing

The number of people out of work continues to fall although the heady pace at which that has happened in recent months is slowing.

In a slightly contradictory set of numbers published this morning, the overall number of people out of work fell by 125,000 and employment rose again.

Because of a statistical blip, the unemployment rate rose unexpectedly to 7.2% from 7.1%.

It's partly explained by more people entering the workforce. Although this number is the easiest to understand (and until the Bank of England changed forward guidance last week, was the key indicator it was basing interest rate decisions on) it measures three month periods which aren't meant to be compared on a monthly basis.

The ONS says it shows that the improvement in the jobs data is slowing.

Interestingly, two details in the data show there is still plenty of spare capacity in the labour market: wages rose only a fraction, up 1.1%, still lagging behind prices which we learned yesterday are growing at 1.9%.

Also the number of underemployed people - as measured by those who work part-time but would prefer a full-time job is still very high: 18.1% (a fall of only 0.1% on the previous number).

So another largely encouraging report but the wobble in the headline number and the spare capacity means the Bank of England can say it's right to hold rates at record lows because the recovery isn't yet secure.