Employment and unemployment: latest figures released in April 2008

The latest figures show that there has been an increase in the number of people in employment and in the employment rate. The number of people in employment increased by 152,000 in the three months to February 2008 and 456,000 over the year, to reach a record high of 29.51 million. The employment rate rose by 0.2 per cent to 74.9 per cent in the three months to February 2008, an increase of 0.6 per cent on the year.

The number of unemployed people, on the ILO definition, fell by 39,000 over the quarter and 90,000 over the year to reach 1.61 million. The unemployment rate fell by 0.1 per cent to 5.2 per cent in the three months to February 2008, a fall of 0.4 per cent on the year.

The claimant count, which is the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance benefits, has fallen to 794,300 in March 2008, down 1,200 on the revised February level and down 110,600 over the year.

Next release date: Wednesday 14 May 2008