"The unemployment level was 1.61 million in the three months to March 2008, up 14,000 from the three months to December 2007 but down 83,000 from a year earlier," ONS elaborated in a press release.

ONS also reported that the claimant count rate for unemployment in the UK rose 2.5% to 806,300 in April, in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month.

Jobless claims had increased by 7,200 in March, up from the 3,600 rise seen in February. Economists had expected a flat reading. February's reading was revised up from a drop of 1,200 jobless claims.

In the three months up to March 2008, average earnings including bonuses increased 4.0%, higher than the expected and previous period's 3.7% rise. Excluding bonuses, average earnings rose 3.8%, in line with expectations and unchanged from the same period in 2007.

Manufacturing wage costs rose 0.8% in the first three months of 2008 to March, unchanged from the same period a year ago.

By Todd Wailoo, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Cristina Markham, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it