Unemployment has taken a dramatic nose dive across the UK – with the number of people out of work falling from 82,000 to 2.51m between August and October.

The drop signifies the biggest fall in a decade, and comes in spite of chancellor George Osborne's gloomy forecast for the economy in the Autumn Statement last week.

The Office for National Statistics said the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance last month fell by 3,000 to 1.58m.

Meanwhile, the average earnings increased by 1.8pc in the year to September, unchanged on the previous month.

Employment rose 40,000 to 29.6 million, heralded as the highest figure since records began in 1971.

For full coverage of how unemployment looks in Norfolk and Waveney, pick up a copy of tomorrow's EDP.