Investing.com - The jobless rate in the U.K. fell to the lowest level since mid-2008 in August, underlining optimism over the health of the labor market, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said that the rate of unemployment dipped to 5.4% in the three months to August from 5.5% in the preceding three-month period. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 5.5%.
The report also showed that the claimant count rose by a seasonally adjusted 4,600 in September, disappointing expectations for a decline of 2,100 people, and following a gain of 1,200 a month earlier.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5286 from around 1.5305 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7466 from 0.7450 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets held on to losses. London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.65%, the EURO STOXX 50 slumped 0.6%, France's CAC 40 declined 0.65%, while Germany's DAX shed 0.8%.