UK unemployment below one million

LONDON, England -- British unemployment has fallen below the one million level for the first time in over 25 years according to official figures revealed on Wednesday.

The number of people claiming jobless benefit fell by 10,600 last month to just 996,200, the lowest figure since November 1975. The jobless rate now stands at just 3.4 percent.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is promising to make the performance of the economy a central plank of its general election campaign, currently expected to take place in May.

The dip below one million comes as Blair maintains his comfortable lead ahead of the main opposition, Conservatives.

Unemployment is now roughly a third of the level it hit in the recession of the early 1990s. It was last this low when Labour's Harold Wilson was prime minister.

The national statistics show Britain in a favourable light internationally, with the jobless rate in France 8.7 percent and Germany 7.8 percent.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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