Unemployment rate in the UK falls, shrugs off Brexit worries

Unemployment rate in the United Kingdom fell surprisingly during the month of July, suggesting that for the time being at least, the British jobs market is shrugging off the EU referendum result.

The numbers of people claiming benefits in the UK surprisingly fell in July, with the claimant count dropping by 8,600 people in the month, against an expected rise of 9,500, according to the latest numbers released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday.

British unemployment also stayed at a record low in June, but a huge impact is still expected from the Brexit in the medium-term, with unemployment set to soar as high as 6.5 percent.

UK unemployment stood at 4.9 percent in the three month period up to June surveyed, the Office for National Statistics data showed. That reading is unchanged from May's reading, when unemployment fell below 5 percent for the first time since 2005. Economists had largely forecast no change.

Employment in the UK also rose to a new high in June, hitting 74.5 percent, a record since records formally began in 1971. Moreover, the lowest number of people claiming unemployment related benefits was 422,600 in December 1973, according to the ONS, and the highest figure was 3.09 million in July 1986. For the latest month, July 2016, there were 763,600 people claiming unemployment related benefits.

Meanwhile, Sterling rose to 86.35 pence per euro following the data, having traded at 86.47 before the data was released.