Levels of unemployment continue to fall in the UK, with new figures showing the number of people seeking work went down by 7,000 between June and August.
There are now 1.42 million people out of work in the UK, leaving the number of people in work at a record high of 28.76 million.
However, the number of people claiming benefits rose for the eighth month in a row in September.
There are now 875,500 people claiming unemployment benefit, up 8,200 on the month before.
Margaret Hodge, minister for employment and welfare reform, said the figures showed continued strength in the labour market.
“There are now more people in work than ever before, up by over 100,000 in the last quarter alone,” she said.
However, the Institute of Directors (IoD) said the figures showed the economy was slowing down.
Graeme Leach, chief economist at the IoD, said: “Taken in conjunction with the consumer slowdown in the High Street, weak GDP growth and little evidence of rising energy costs increasing economy-wide inflation, today’s numbers suggest that the Bank [of England] will reduce interest rates in November.”
