According to the latest data published by the National Statistics, employment rate, the number of people in employment and number of vacancies has fallen.

Up to May 2009, the employment rate was 72.9% - 0.9% down from the previous quarter, which is the largest quarterly fall since 1971.

The total number of people in employment for the three months to May 2009 was just under 29 million, down 269,000 over the quarter and down 543,000 over the year.

There were 429,000 job vacancies in the three months to June 2009. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001 and it is down 35,000 over the previous quarter and down 222,000 over the year.

The claimant count, which measures the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, reached 1.56 million in June 2009. It has not been higher since June 1997. The count is up 23,800 over the previous month and up 716,800 over the year. This is the smallest monthly increase in the count since May 2008.