The UK unemployment rate fell to the lowest for nearly 10 years at 5.2% in the three months to October.
It was the lowest jobless rate since the three-month period to January 2006, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The number of people out of work fell by 110,000 to 1.71 million between August and October.
There were 31.3 million people in work, 505,000 more than for a year earlier.
Joblessness had been expected to remain at 5.3%, where it was a month ago, according to a poll of economists by news agency Reuters.
The figures also show EU citizens working in the UK increased by 324,000 to 2.02 million, whereas workers who were neither EU nationals or Britons were “little changed” at 1.20 million.
The jobless rate a year ago was 6%.
