The number of people in work
around the UK has reached record levels, with employment still growing steadily
and unemployment falling on both measures.
New labour market figures show
that a record 27.92 million people are in work, a rise of 63,000 over the last
three months and 224,000 in the past year.
Minister for Work Des Brown
hailed the improvements, claiming the UK now has one of the highest number of
employed people in the world.
The ILO measure of unemployment
fell by 42,000 this quarter, to 1.46 million, while the number of Jobseekers
Allowance claimants fell by 8,800 between June and July, bringing the total
number of claimant unemployed to 939,000.
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The underlying trend in
unemployment remains close to flat – the claimant unemployment rate, at 3.1 per
cent, has been unchanged for more than a year and a half.
