LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - The rate of unemployment in Britain fell unexpectedly in the three months to February, and employment rose, official data showed on Wednesday, suggesting a modest improvement in the labour market.
The Office for National Statistics said the number of peopole claiming jobless benefit rose by 700 in March after a revised 8,500 fall in February and confounding expectatinos for a fa ll of 4,200.
The number of people without a job on the wider ILO measure fell by 17,000 in the three months to February to 2.480 million, taking the jobless rate down to 7.8 percent, compared with forecasts for a steady reading of 8.0 percent. The ONS said that was the first fall in the jobless level and rate since last September.
There were other signs of improvement in the labour market, with the number of people in employment rising by 143,000 in the three months to February. The ONS said the improveme nt was driven by the biggest rise in people in full-time employment since May 2007.
However, wage growth slowed, with average weekly earnings growth including bonuses easing to 2.0 percent from 2.3 percent in the three months to January. Analysts had forecast a r ise of 2.6 percent.