Unemployment in the UK dropped in the three months to June to its lowest level since 2008, with 2.08 million people out of work.

Official figures revealed the jobless rate slipping from 6.5 per cent to 6.4 per cent between May and June. Unemployment is at its lowest rate in nearly six years.

On an annual basis the number of people out of work fell 437,000, the biggest drop in 25 years, according to government number crunchers. They added that “the vast majority” of new jobs being filled were full-time positions.

Youth unemployment fell at its fastest rate in 30 years, since records began, dropping 206,000 or 4.5 per cent in the last 12 months.

Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “The government’s long-term economic plan…is working, with employment going up, record drops in youth unemployment and hundreds of thousands of people replacing their signing-on book with a wage packet.”

He added: “The best way to help even more people into work is to go on delivering a plan that’s creating growth and jobs.”