LONDON: Britain's unemployment rate remains at 4.6 percent, the lowest level for 42 years, official data showed on Wednesday.

A total of 1.53 million people were recorded as unemployed at the end of April, down 145,000 compared with a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

However average weekly earnings adjusted for inflation fell by 0.6 percent, excluding bonuses, compared with a year earlier, the data showed.

British inflation jumped in May close to a four-year high of 2.9 percent as a weak pound pushes up import costs.