UK Unemployment Drops To 5.1%, Lowest In Over A Decade

The U.K.'s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 5.1 percent in the three months to November, the lowest level in over a decade.

The number of people out of work fell by 99,000 to 1.68 million between September and November, and the employment rate was 74 percent, the highest since comparable records began in 1971, according to data released by the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics.

Average weekly earnings for U.K. employees, excluding bonuses, rose 1.9 percent compared to the previous year, but the rate was still a drop of 0.4 percent from the previous quarter.

The data comes after Bank of England governor Mark Carney ruled out an immediate rise in interest rates in the country, saying that collapsing oil prices and an "unforgiving" global environment meant that tighter monetary policy was not yet necessary, according to the BBC.

Carney said that a sustained improvement in wage growth was a key factor that would influence the bank's decision on when to exit years of emergency stimulus and raise interest rates. A growing number of economic forecasters, cited by Bloomberg, now believe that the bank will hold off on raising interest rates until the end of 2016.