article_snippet: The jobless total is 1.86million, the lowest since the summer of 2008 and almost half a million down on a year ago.
article_snippet: The unemployment rate is 5.7 per cent, compared to a European Union average of 9.8 per cent.
article_snippet: The proportion of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has also fallen to its lowest level for 40 years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
article_snippet: the ONS also predicted the UK’s unemployment rate will fall from the current 5.3 per cent to 5.2 per cent next year, returning to 5.3 per cent until 2019.
article_snippet: This challenges claims by Labour that the private sector would not be able to compensate for the number of people made redundant by the State as a result of spending cuts.
article_snippet: Public sector employment fell by 140,000 last year to 5.4million, the lowest level since records began in 1999 and a fall of almost a million since its peak in late 2009.
highlights_snippet: The jobless total is now 1.86million, the lowest since the summer of 2008 .
  
highlights_snippet: Proportion of people on Jobseeker's Allowance at lowest level for 40 years .