Olympics Boosts U.K. Employment

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By Trey Thoelcke Published

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The Office for National Statistics, the United Kingdom’s largest independent producer of official statistics, reported Wednesday that the unemployment rate in the U.K. fell to 8% in the three months to June 2012, down from 8.2% in the previous quarter. However, compared to the same quarter last year, the unemployment rate edged 0.1 percentage points higher.

The number of unemployed people fell by 46,000 in the three months to the end of June. The number of people in employment rose by 201,000 over the quarter, the largest quarterly increase for nearly two years. Hiring associated with the Olympic Games may have been responsible in part for the better-than-expected figures.

The number of people claiming jobless benefits fell by 5,900 in July to 1.59 million compared to June. But that was 35,600 higher than in the same period of last year. Economists had expected that the number would rise by about 6,000.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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