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UK economy grows for the seventh successive quarter

FXStreet (London) - The latest data released by the UK Office for National Statistics showed that the UK economy grew by 0.7 percent in the quarter – the seventh straight quarter of growth and the longest run of sustained GDP growth since the 2008 crisis. The UK economy is 3.4 percentage points larger than in the first quarter of 2008.

Robust employment numbers

The number of people in employment increased by 112,000 (to reach 30.79 million) in the quarter ending in September, the number of unemployed people fell by 115,000 (to reach 1.96 million) and the number of people not in the labour force (economically inactive) aged from 16 to 64 increased by 38,000 (to reach 9.03 million).

According to the ONS report, although output grew faster than expected in the latest quarter, the overall story of weak productivity has remained, with output per hour still below its pre-downturn level.

The unemployment rate for July to September 2014 was 6.0 percent, down from 7.6 percent for a year earlier and level with the August print. Expectations had been for a slight decline to 5.9 percent.

The report cites the resilience of the labour market as, while GDP has been experiencing steady and consistent growth in recent quarters, the UK labour market was not only stronger than expected during the downturn itself, but has also recovered both sooner and more strongly than output.

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