Business week in pictures

Unemployment is falling at its fastest pace in a decade, official figures revealed, in a boost for George Osborne. Separate figures also showed the rapid pace of job-shedding in the public sector in the first three months of the year, with the bulk of job cuts concentrated in local government and education Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

But the TUC has warned that household budgets were being stretched to breaking point after the latest set of official inflation figures showed the annual increase in the cost of living running well ahead of wage settlements. A dip in the cost of air and sea travel was offset last month by dearer food prices Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

Retail sales dived by twice the expected rate in May as consumers cut their spending on clothes and other non-food items to pay for higher petrol prices. Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg News via Getty Images

The rapidly changing face of Britain's high streets shows an army of hairdressers and beauticians on the march but the number of newsagents, butchers and independent fashion stores in marked decline as they struggle to compete with the onslaught from supermarkets and larger chains Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

It was also a busy week for retailers' results. Supermarkets were a mixed bag, with Sainsbury's recording sales growth for the last three months that comfortably beat rival Tesco Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP

Luxury handbag maker Mulberry celebrated its 40th anniversary in style as it more than quadrupled its annual profits. The group, founded in 1971, has benefited from seemingly insatiable demand for its goods – including its Alexa handbag, named after television presenter Alexa Chung Photograph: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

The Spanish owner of Zara has announced plans to expand to South Africa, Taiwan and Peru. Inditex, the world's largest fashion chain, opened 12 stores a week in the three months to the end of April and said it planned to open hundreds more as it strove to bring its 'fast fashion' clothes to the world Photograph: Micha Theiner/City AM/Rex Features

In his Mansion House speech, George Osborne played down hopes of a quick sale of the taxpayer stakes in the bailed-out banks even as he put Northern Rock up for sale. The chancellor hopes to find a buyer by the end of the year who is prepared to use the bank to inject competition into the high street Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

British Land and the City of London were celebrating after culture secretary Jeremy Hunt brushed aside a recommendation from English Heritage that Broadgate estate in the Square Mile should be listed, paving the way for an £850m European headquarters for UBS Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A futuristic concept of air travel in which passengers will be able to gaze up at sunny or starry skies through a transparent cabin has been presented by planemaker Airbus. Showing off its concept cabin, the company also said that mid-century passengers might be able to enjoy a game of virtual golf or take part in interactive conferences Photograph: Airbus/Reuters

World stock markets fell sharply as the imminent prospect of a Greek debt default gripped investors. Greece's bonds also hit record levels after Wednesday's violent riots piled fresh pressure on an Athens government already on the edge. George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, said that he would seek a vote of confidence on a new government after offering to resign Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images

With European governments embroiled in a fierce dispute over how to structure a second bailout of Greece to forestall the first sovereign default in the 17-country single currency zone, Britain is keen to remain on the sidelines, insisting that Greece is purely a eurozone problem. German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou talk prior an eurogroup council meeting Photograph: Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images