80,000 fall in number of 'workless households' over one year

The number of households where no-one works has fallen by 80,000 over the past year, new figures show.

There were 3.1 million so-called workless households in the quarter to March, down by 0.4% on a year ago, said the Office for National Statistics.

Of the 20.7 million UK households where at least one adult lives, 11.9 million, or 57%, has everyone in a job, with a mix of working and not working in 5.7 million.

Growth in the share of working households has been driven partly by more lone parents working.

The proportion of workless households has been falling since comparable records began in 1996, now accounting for 14.9% of the total.

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