September 17, 2014

In August, jobless claims fell 37,200 over the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The print was smaller than the revised 37,400 drop recorded in June (previously reported: -33,600) and exceeded the 30,000 decrease in jobless claims the markets had expected.



The unemployment rate—derived from a different survey—fell to 6.2% in the three months up to July, (the latest period for which data are available) which was down from the 6.4% tallied in the three months up to June. The figure slightly undershot the 6.3% rate the marked had expected and marked the lowest rate since August 2008.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect unemployment to average 6.7% in 2014, which is down 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2015, the panel expects the unemployment rate to drop to 6.3%.