UNEMPLOYMENT has continued to fall and the number of people in work reached a record high.

UNEMPLOYMENT has continued to fall and the number of people in work reached a record high.

The employment level was 29.5 million in the three months to February, the best since records began in 1971, while unemployment fell by 39,000 to 1.6 million.

But the Office for National Statistics revised the number of people claiming JobSeeker's Allowance in February, which showed a rise of 600 instead of a previously reported fall of 2,800.

The East of England did, however, show an increase of 1,000 in the unemployment figure, rising to 136,000 (an umeployment rate of 4.6 per cent).