The number of people in work and the rate of employment is increasing according to new figures.

The findings from the Office for National Statistics show that the employment rate for people of working age now stands at 74.9%, up 0.1% from the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate remains at 5.2%, though the number out of work rose by 14,000 over the quarter.

However, over the past year, the number in work fell by 83,000 to 1.61m.

For the three months to April, 682,800 job openings were created.

Ian Brinkley, associate director at The Work Foundation, commented: “The labour market is still showing no signs of real weakness.  Nor is there much evidence that employers are worried about the future – all the new jobs are permanent.

"These figures are of course backward looking. But so far there is no sign that redundancies in City firms have had any adverse impact on the finance and business service sector as a whole.”