The number of people in employment in the three months to December 2009 stood at 28.905 million, down from 28.917 million in the three months to September 2009. The rate of employment relative to the working age population stood at 72.4 per cent in the three months to December, down 0.1 percentage points on the previous quarter.

Unemployment, as measured by the wider ILO definition, was 2.457 million in the three months to December, down from 2.461 million in the previous quarter. The ILO rate of unemployment was 7.8 per cent in the three months to December, unchanged from the previous quarter.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance was 1.636 million in January 2010, up from 1.612 million in December.

Future release dates: 17 March, 21 April 2010