Wales bucks the trend as number of jobless falls

WALES has seen a fall in numbers of jobless, bucking the UK picture where the level remains at a four-year high, but still has the lowest level of employment in the UK.

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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate of UK unemployment remained at 4.7% in the three months to June. For Wales, the rate was 4.3%, down 0.9% on the quarter.

The number of working age adults unemployed in Wales was 67,000 - down 13,000 on a quarter - and 1.67 million for the UK. Although on previous year last year unemployment in Wales was up 11,000.

The percentage of working age adults in employment in Wales was 71.8% -1.47 million people.

The employment rate is the lowest of any UK nation or region. For the UK as whole employment was 75.3%. For England it was 75.6%, Scotland 75.1% and Northern Ireland 71.6%.