British unemployment holds at 7.8 percent

LONDON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The unemployment rate in Britain held steady at 7.8 percent in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.

The statistical office said there were 29.78 million people aged 16 to 64 with jobs in the reporting period, up by 69,000 from the first quarter of the year.

But there were also 2.51 million persons listed as unemployed in the second quarter, a drop of 4,000 from the first quarter.

Total pay rose 2.1 percent April to June, while regular pay rose by 1.1 percent, ONS said.

The average worker's buying power, however, has not gone up, as Britain's consumer price index in July came to 2.8 percent on an annual basis, ONS said in a release this week.