UK unemployment down to 6.9 percent

LONDON (AP) — Britain's unemployment rate has fallen below 7 percent for the first time in five years, with earnings growth narrowly outstripping inflation.

The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that 2.24 million people were unemployed in the three months to February, a rate of 6.9 percent. That compares with 7.2 percent in the previous quarter.

Average earnings grew by 1.7 percent in the year to February, exceeding the rate of inflation, which was 1.6 percent at last count, in March. Stripping out bonuses, however, earnings growth was a more modest 1.4 percent.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the figures were evidence Britain's economic recovery was becoming "embedded."