Unemployment down across Yorkshire and Humber

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that 15,000 fewer people were unemployed in the region.

Nationwide, the largest rise in employment for more than 21 years helped drive the number of jobless down by 49,000 in the three months to June.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the UK unemployment level fell to 2.46 million after the biggest quarterly decrease for three years.

The drop came after a 184,000 increase in the number of employed to 29 million, marking the largest quarterly hike since the three months to May 1989.

Employment rose as the number of part-time workers lifted by 115,000 in the quarter to a record 7.84 million - suggesting more people are struggling to find full-time permanent jobs. But the ONS said there was also a lift in those in full-time work, up by an encouraging 68,000 to 21.2 million in the quarter to June.

The figures also show the sixth successive fall in the claimant count for those on Jobseeker's Allowance, down 3,800 to 1.46 million - although this was far lower than expected by analysts.

And the ONS revised down last month's quarterly fall in the claimant count, from 20,800 to 15,900. Its figures also showed the unemployment rate was 7.8% in the April to June quarter.

Encouraging news on the headline unemployment figure is unlikely to calm fears of a spike in jobless workers when the Government's austerity measures take effect.

A survey of 600 employers earlier this week by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found a third expected to cut jobs in the next three months - the worst figure for a year and up from one in four at the end of 2009.