12 June 2013 Last updated at 08:09 ET

Economy tracker: Unemployment

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Claimant count - June 2012

Latest news:

The number of people out of work fell by 5,000 to 2.5 million in the three months to April, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The unemployment rate of the economically active population remained unchanged at 7.8%.

The number of people in work is 29.7 million.

The claimant count - the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance - fell by 8,600 to 1.51 million in May.

Understanding unemployment:

• A person is classed as unemployed if they are not only out of work, but also actively looking for work and available to start work within a fortnight

• Unemployment figures are based on a survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics. They show the average number of people unemployed over a three-month period

• A new survey is done every month, but comparisons are made between separate three-month periods, not overlapping ones. e.g. April-June v Jan-March, not April-June v March-May

• The ONS also publishes the claimant count which shows the number of people receiving Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) in a particular month. That figure comes from information supplied by the Department for Work and Pensions

• The unemployment figure is higher than the claimant count as many jobseekers do not or cannot claim JSA

• The two main measures can sometimes move in different directions. A change in benefits rules moving people onto JSA from another benefit, for example, would increase the claimant count without a corresponding increase in unemployment.

Background:

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Unemployment is referred to as a lagging indicator because businesses will often delay laying people off as long as they can in difficult times.

A few months after the start of the recession in 2008, unemployment started to rise sharply. When the global financial crisis hit, the unemployment rate was a little over 5% or 1.6 million.

Towards the end of 2009, with the UK coming out of its severest recession since the 1950s, it was almost a million higher at 2.5 million, or 8%.

Unemployment peaked at almost 2.7 million at the end of 2011, its highest level for 17 years.