Unemployment rate rises in Wales

Unemployment in Wales has gone up to a rate of 4.2% - slightly more than the overall UK rate, according to latest figures.

The August-October rate is up on the previous quarter but still down 0.5 percentage points on last year.

However there has been a rise in the employment rate too, according to the Office for National Statistics figures.

In Wales it is 75.3% - a record high and up 0.5 percentage points on the previous quarter.

This compares with a 0.2 percentage point rise for the UK as a whole.

The Welsh employment rate is up 2.5 percentage points on the same quarter last year - with 53,000 more people in work - compared with a 0.6 percentage point rise for the UK.

The figures also show in the UK as a whole, wages are continuing to rise at the fastest pace for nearly a decade.

First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "Throughout my time as first minister I have prided myself on leading a pro-business government, so it is very pleasing that in my last day in the job there are now 145,000 more people in work than when I started in the job in December 2009."

He said "brave interventions" such as buying Cardiff Airport and work to bring huge names such as Aston Martin to Wales have helped to boost our economy "and put Wales on the map".

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Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns welcomed the employment figures as "testament to hard-working individuals across Wales".

"With the country experiencing the highest increase in the rate of employment of any UK country or region in the last year, it is clear that the UK government's efforts to foster job growth across Wales are working," he said.

"The highly anticipated removal of the Severn tolls next week will only strengthen Wales' economic prospects, creating a growth corridor right from Swansea through to Bristol, opening up new opportunities for the people of Wales."