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The trend in the employment rate is increasing and there are more people in employment. The number of unemployed people has fallen and the trend in the unemployment rate is close to flat. The claimant count (people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance benefit) has increased and the number of job vacancies has fallen. Growth in average earnings, both excluding and including bonuses, has fallen.

The employment rate for people of working age was 74.9 per cent for the three months ending in March 2005, unchanged from the previous quarter and on the year.

The number of people in employment increased by 87,000 over the quarter and by 183,000 over the year, to reach 28.61 million.

Total hours worked per week increased by 1.7 million over the quarter and by 8.5 million over the year, to reach 918.4 million.

The unemployment rate was 4.7 per cent, down 0.1 percentage point both from the previous quarter and over the year. The number of unemployed people fell by 15,000 over the quarter and by 23,000 over the year, to reach 1.40 million.

The claimant count increased by 8,100 to 839,400 in April 2005.

The inactivity rate for people of working age was 21.4 per cent for the three months ending in March 2005, up slightly from the previous quarter. The number of economically inactive people of working age rose by 14,000, to reach 7.86 million.

The annual rate of growth in average earnings (the AEI), excluding bonuses, was 4.1 per cent in March 2005, down from 4.3 per cent the previous month. The annual rate of growth in average earnings, including bonuses, was 4.6 per cent in March 2005, down from 4.7 per cent the previous month.

The average number of job vacancies for the three months to April 2005 was 628,900. This was down 26,100 on the previous quarter but up 5,600 over the year. The redundancy rate for the three months to March 2005 was 5.4 per 1,000 employees, down 0.5 on the previous quarter.