Latest ONS Employment Figures

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that the number of unemployed people in the UK increased by 6,000 between July and September to 1.67 million.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance fell by 9,900 in October to 824,800, the 13th consecutive monthly cut.And the number of people in work increased by 69,000 over the latest quarter to reach 29.2 million, the highest figure since records began in 1971.

The ONS said there was a huge increase in the number of women in full-time employment, up 59,000 over the quarter, compared to a fall of 9,000 in men.

Average earnings increased by 4.1 per cent in the year to September, up by 0.4 per cent compared with the previous month.Wage growth in private firms was 4.3 per cent, compared with 3 per cent in the public sector.

There were 667,000 job vacancies in the economy in the three months to October, up by 10,800 from the previous quarter and 67,100 compared to a year ago.