18.04.12
Unemployment down by 0.1%
Unemployment has fallen for the first time since last spring, according to the ONS. For the period between December 2011 and February 2012, the unemployment rate is at 8.3%, down 0.1% on the previous quarter.
The number of unemployed people is 2.65m, down by 35,000.
The employment rate for 16-64 year olds is 70.4%, up 0.1% on the quarter, with 29.17m people in employment, up 53,000 on the quarter.
The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 23.1%, down 0.1 on the quarter. There were 9.27 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 25,000 on the quarter.
Total pay, including bonuses, rose by 1.1% on a year earlier, down 0.2 on the three months to January 2012. Regular pay, excluding bonuses, rose by 1.6% on a year earlier, unchanged on the three months to January 2012.
Nick Palmer from the ONS told BBC News: “If you look at the longer-term picture, unemployment rose quite strongly during the summer of last year, then the increases tailed off a bit towards the end of the year.
“So despite this latest decrease, the level of unemployment is significantly higher than it was a year ago, in fact it is some 170,000 higher than it was at the same point a year ago.”
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