The number of unemployed people fell by 82,000 to 2.510 million in the three months to October, from the figure for the three months to July, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

That was the biggest quarterly drop since the spring of 2001.

The ONS also revealed that the number of people in work hit a new record high, jumping by 40,000 to 29.6 million people over the same period.

"The UK jobs report shows some reasonably encouraging newsflow on the labour market," said ING economist James Knightley.

He added: "The fact that UK employment is rising, consumer confidence is up and anecdotal evidence of retail sales have not been too bad, offers some hope that the domestic situation in the UK is stabilising."

Britain's unemployment rate meanwhile stood at 7.8 percent in the three months to the end of October.

The rate was unchanged from the level in the three months to September, but marked a decrease from 8.0 percent in the three months to July.

The numbers claiming jobless benefits slid 3,000 in November to 1.58 million people, compared with October.