Huge increase in employment total

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance has fallen to a near two-year low after a huge increase in employment, new figures show.

Almost 30 million people were in work at the end of 2012, an increase of 154,000 on the quarter to September, and the highest total since records began in 1971. The so-called claimant count fell for the third month in a row in January, down by 12,500 to 1.54 million, the lowest since June 2011.%VIRTUAL-SkimlinksPromo%