The UK unemployment total fell by 52,000 to 1.64 million between April and June, official figures have shown.

The UK’s unemployment rate remained at 4.9%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The ONS figures also showed the number of people on the claimant count in July – the first month since the Brexit vote – was 763,600, down 8,600 from June.

Wages including bonuses rose 2.4% in the three months to June compared with a year earlier, the ONS said.

Excluding bonuses, earnings growth was 2.3%.

“The labour market continued on a strong trend in the second quarter of 2016, with a new record employment rate,” said ONS statistician David Freeman.

“However, little of today’s data cover the period since the result of the EU referendum became known, with only claimant count and vacancies going beyond June – to July for the former and to May-July for the latter,” he added.

The jobless total is now at its lowest for eight years, while the unemployment rate is at its lowest since the summer of 2005, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The employment rate reached a record high of 74.5%, with 31.8 million people in work in the three months to June – 172,000 more than the previous quarter. (BBC News)