Percentage points

[MontyDonsBlueScarf]

Can anyone explain why this is becoming more common than plain old per cent? I heard someone on the radio this morning say '...has gone down by three percentage points' when 'three per cent' would have been shorter and more elegant.
I particularly dislike it because it somehow gives the misleading impression that a percentage point is a fixed unit of measurement. But perhaps I'm missing something.

I'm going to take a guess at a situation where it might clarify.

Let's say unemployment used to be ten percent, and now it's eight percent. It has dropped by two percentage points. But it has fallen by twenty percent. I think people would understand "two percentage points" more clearly there.

Thank you, that does make sense. I shall feel less put out now!

Percentage points and percent mean different things. It's not a new thing or a style choice.
This from ONS explains it clearly:
"A percentage point is the difference between percentages. A value of 10% falling by 1 percentage point becomes 9% (10% has 10 percentage points). A fall of 1% would result in a value of 9.9%."

@WhereAreWeNow Thanks, I get the point but now I'm even more shocked that the ONS is talking about 'a value of 10%' as if that by itself was something measurable or meaningful. It has to be 10% of something. So 10% of a hundred is 10 and 10% of a thousand is a hundred. But 10% by itself doesn't have a value. Unless I have misunderstood the meaning of 'value' as well.