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The UK unemployment rate increased in three months to February, while the employment rate reached a record high, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Tuesday.
The jobless rate rose 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter to 4 percent, which was slightly above economists' forecast of 3.9 percent.
During three months to February, an estimated 1.36 million people were unemployed. This was 22,000 more than a year earlier.
At the same time, the employment rate rose 0.2 percentage points from previous three months to a record high of 76.6 percent.
Data showed that annual growth in average gross earnings excluding bonus was 2.9 percent and that including bonus came in at 2.8 percent. Both indicators were forecast to climb 3 percent.
In March, the claimant count rose marginally to 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent in February. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits increased 12,100 from the previous month.
