UK's unemployment rate fell to 4.9% in April, coming in below market expectations, official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Thursday.
The market had expected unemployment to remain unchanged at 5%.
The unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over was down 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, but up 0.3 percentage points on an annual basis, the ONS said.
The employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 was estimated at 75% in February-April, largely unchanged from both the previous quarter and the same period last year.
The economic inactivity rate for people aged 16 to 64 stood at 21%, down 0.3 percentage points year-on-year but up 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter.
Payroll employees in the UK fell by 138,000, or 0.5%, between April 2025 and April 2026, and decreased by 53,000, or 0.2%, between March and April 2026, based on administrative data from HM Revenue and Customs.
The early estimate for May showed payroll employees falling by 119,000, or 0.4%, from a year earlier, while remaining broadly unchanged on a monthly basis with a rise of 2,000 to 30.3 million.
The Claimant Count increased on both the month and year in May to an estimated 1.71 million.
Vacancies continued to decline, with early estimates for March-May showing a decrease of 19,000, or 2.6%, from the previous quarter to 707,000, the lowest level since February-April 2021.
Average regular earnings, excluding bonuses, rose 3.4% annually in Great Britain in February-April, while total earnings, including bonuses, increased 4.4%.
The ONS further said there were an estimated 120,000 working days lost because of labor disputes across the UK in April, mostly in the health and social work sector due to doctors' strikes in England.
