The number of people out of work in the UK has fallen by 59,000 to 1.42 million.

The unemployment rate is 4.3 per cent - down from 4.8 per cent a year earlier and the joint lowest since 1975.

The number of people in employment has fallen by 14,000 to 32.06 million but it is still 279,000 more than the year before.

In Gloucestershire there are 3,665 people looking for work-down 535 on the same time in 2016, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Weekly earnings increased by 2.2 per cent but once inflation, currently at three per cent, is taken into account in real terms earnings fell by 0.4 per cent including bonuses.

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