The unemployment rate continued to fall during March to May 2014 to reach 6.5%, the lowest since October to December 2008. There were 2.12m people unemployed, 121,000 fewer than December 2013 to February 2014.
The employment rate was 73.1% up from 71% on last year but higher than the pre-downturn peak of 73% for 2008. The number of employees increased by 552,000 to reach 25.83m. The number of self-employed people increased by 404,000 to 4.58m. The number of unpaid family workers increased by 13,000 to reach 117,000. The number of people on government supported training and employment schemes fell by 40,000 to 120,000.
Hours worked per week were 987m march to May 2014, up 14.1m from December to February and up 35m on a year earlier. People working full time worked on average 37.6 hours/week, part-time workers worked on average 16 hours/week. There was little change on a year earlier.
There were 33.05m workforce jobs in March 2014, an increase of 380,000 from December and 1.08m on a year earlier. Workforce jobs is a different concept from employment.
Average regular weekly earnings in May 2014 was £449/week and average total pay was £478/week (both before tax and deductions). Regular pay increased 0.7% over the year, total pay increased 0.3% over the year. Consumer inflation over the year to May 2014 was 1.5%.
Claimant Count figures show that for June 2014 there were 1.04m people claiming JSA, down 36,300 from May 2014 and 418,900 on the year. Claimant Count measures the number of people claiming benefits as a direct result of unemployment. Unemployment measures people without a job seeking work in previous four weeks and available to start in two weeks, and those out of work but have found a job and are waiting to start within two weeks.
There were 648,000 vacancies for April to June 2014, up 30,000 from January to March 2014 and 117,000 from last year.
