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Main points for February to April 2015

• Comparing the estimates for February to April 2015 with those for the 3 months to January 2015, employment continued to rise and unemployment continued to fall. These changes maintain the general direction of movement since late 2011 to early 2012.
• There were 31.05 million people in work, 114,000 more than for the 3 months to January 2015 and 424,000 more than for a year earlier.
• There were 22.74 million people working full-time, 362,000 more than for a year earlier. There were 8.31 million people working part-time, 63,000 more than for a year earlier.
• The proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) was 73.4%, up slightly from the 3 months to January 2015 (73.3%) and higher than for a year earlier (72.7%).
• There were 1.81 million unemployed people. This was 43,000 fewer than for the 3 months to January 2015 and 349,000 fewer than for a year earlier.
• The proportion of the economically active population who were unemployed (the unemployment rate) was 5.5%, lower than for the 3 months to January 2015 (5.7%) and for a year earlier (6.6%). Economically active people are those in work plus those seeking and available to work.
• There were 9.02 million people aged from 16 to 64 who were out of work and not seeking or available to work (known as economically inactive), 10,000 fewer than for the 3 months to January 2015 but 60,000 more than for a year earlier.
• The proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 who were economically inactive (the inactivity rate) was 22.2%, little changed compared with the 3 months to January 2015 and with a year earlier.
• Comparing February to April 2015 with a year earlier, pay for employees in Great Britain increased by 2.7% both including and excluding bonuses.

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