According to provisional results of employment accounts, the number of persons in employment in March 2013 was up by 102,000 on February 2013, which was due to the beginning spring upturn. After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the relevant number increased by 28,000 in March 2013 (+0.1 percent) compared with the previous month.
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment for the reference month of March 2013, the monthly employment results published so far were recalculated for the year 2012 and the months of January and February 2013. The recalculation of the monthly results produced year-on-year rates of change which differ slightly for some months but, at the level of the overall economy, are no more than 0.1 percentage points higher or lower than the previously calculated results.
According to results of the labour force survey, the number of unemployed amounted to 2.37 million in March 2013. It was up by 56,000 persons or 2.6 percent on March 2012. Compared with February 2013, the number of unemployed decreased by 168,000 people or 6.7 percent. When adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed was down by 3,600 to 2.29 million (0.0 percent) from the previous month. The adjusted unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in March 2013.