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Unemployment has fallen for the third consecutive month, official figures show.

Total unemployment stood at 2.45 million for the three months to January, down 33,000 on the figure for the previous three months, the largest fall for two and a half years.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance also dropped by 32,300 to 1.59 million in February.

Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, says: ‘The fall in unemployment for the third month in a row is very welcome, but we should remain cautious. We're not out of the woods yet and we are still determined to do more to support jobs and help the unemployed this year.’

However, Brian Johnson, insolvency practitioner at HW Fisher Chartered Accountants, says the figures do not reflect the challenging conditions faced by businesses. ‘Nobody wants to talk the economy down but the statistics do not correlate with the reality.

‘There's a feeling that this could be the calm before the storm, which will start in earnest in the second half of the year. The exit from recession is likely to be longer and more painful than the recession itself,’ he says.


According to the figures, the amount of people out of work for more than a year rose by 61,000 to 687,000. 

The jobless rate remains at 7.8 per cent.

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