Figures show unemployment down in East Midlands

The news comes as it is revealed that there were nearly 5,500 more people in work every working day over the same period.

Employment Minister, Esther McVey, said: “As the economy grows, businesses up and down the country are feeling increasingly confident about creating jobs, meaning many thousands more people are in work every day – ensuring a better future for them, their families, and for the country as a whole.

“Helping young people to get a job is vital to securing our economic future, so it’s welcome that youth unemployment has continued to fall – we will continue to do all we can to inspire the next generation of employers and business leaders and help them to build their careers.”

Employment increased by a record-breaking 345,000 in the last three months nationally.

Compared to a year ago, 780,000 more people are in work– the biggest annual rise in a quarter of a century.

This brings the total number of people in work to over 30.5 million for the first time ever and the employment rate is now 72.9 per cent - just 0.1 percentage points below the pre-recession peak and 0.2 percentage points below the highest rate on record.

The figures show that over three quarters of the employment increase over the last three months was employee jobs, and private sector employment is up 795,000 from a year earlier.

Numbers of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) fell by 27,400 this month and are down 406,300 compared to a year ago - the largest annual fall since 1998.

The number of people claiming JSA for more than 12 months fell by 100,500 on the year, the largest annual fall in nearly 16 years.

Job vacancies rose again, up 116,000 over the past year bringing the number of vacancies in the UK economy to 637,000.