UK unemployment dips to 4.9%: official data

LONDON: Britain's unemployment rate dipped to 4.9 percent in the three months to the end of February, remaining close to multi-year highs on fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, official data showed Tuesday.

The rate compared with 5.0 percent in the three months to the end of January, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

"The UK unemployment rate was estimated at 4.9 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier but 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous quarter," the ONS said.