Fall in unemployment could be good news for banking recruitment

Those seeking finance jobs in London may be interested to learn that the UK''s unemployment rate dropped over the quarter prior to November.

During the three month period, the number of people unemployed in the country fell by 7,000 to 2.46 million, the first quarterly drop recorded by the Office for National Statistics since May 2008.

Although long-term unemployment rose over the period, the figure for people claiming jobseeker''s allowance was down by 15,600 in December 2009 to 1.61 million, which could benefit the market for sales support jobs.

Meanwhile, average regular total pay over the three months to November 2009 was up by 0.7 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year at £451 per week, including bonuses and 1.1 per cent higher year-on-year excluding bonuses at £424 a week.

The official UK statistics agency also reported climbs over the year in average earnings, despite the global economic downturn.