The number of British people claiming unemployment benefit has risen at its fastest pace in almost two years in May, but a broader measure of unemployment has fallen sharply, official data has shown, reinforcing the mixed picture of Britain's labour market.
The British Office for National Statistics said the number of people claiming jobless benefit in May rose by 19,600, more than double forecasts for an increase of 7,000 and the biggest rise since July 2009.
However, the number of people without a job on the wider International Labour Organisation measure fell by 88,000 to 2.43 million in the three months to April - the biggest decline since August 2000.
That took the jobless rate to 7.7% - in line with forecasts and down from 7.9% in the November to January period.
The figures are unlikely to alter the view that monetary policy needs to stay on hold for some months to come as the economy regains its footing after a weak start to 2011.
The two measures have been diverging for several months and the figures are therefore provide limited information about the underlying strength of the labour market.
The ONS said it had no clear reason for the divergence in the two jobless measures.
It said the claimant count figures had in recent months been skewed by changes to benefit rules to lone parents, which had increased the number of women claiming jobseekers' allowance.
However in May, the number of men claiming jobless benefit increased by 11,100 - the biggest rise since January 2010 - and more than the 8,500 increase in the number of female benefits claimants.
Wage growth slowed in the three months to April, with regular pay excluding bonuses rising by 2.0% - its weakest pace since last August.
Including bonuses, average earnings rose by 1.8% - the weakest since December 2010.
Separate figures showed public sector employment fell by 24,000 in the first three months of this year to 6.162m.
A survey this week from recruitment agency Manpower showed small and medium-sized firms are planning to step up hiring over the coming three months, and that a balance of 3% of employers planned to take on more staff, the highest in three years.
