Unemployment by Constituency May 2013

• The number of people claiming jobseekers allowance decreased by 7,300 between March and April 2013, to 1.52 million people aged 18 or over.

• The ILO measure of unemployment was 2.52 million people in the January-March 2013 period, up 15,000 from the prior quarter but down 92,000 from January-March 2012. The unemployment rate was 7.8%.

• The number of people in employment was 29.71 million in January-March 2013, down 43,000 from October-December 2012 but up 434,000 on the previous year. The employment rate (the proportion of the population aged 16-64 in work) was 71.4%, down from a peak of 73.0% in March-May 2008.

• The number of economically inactive people aged 16-64 was 9.00 million in January-March 2013, up 47,000 compared to the last quarter and down 212,000 compared to the previous year