THE number of people out of work has continued to fall and the number of people in work has hit another new high, figures have showed.

The number of people out of work was 1.46 million in the three months to January, down 73,000 on the previous three months.

That is the sharpest quarter-on-quarter decline for two years, while the total figure is also 28,000 lower than a year earlier.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also reported that employment had continued to climb, with a record 27,815,000 people in work in the three months to January, an increase of 271,000 during the year.

The ONS said the number of people claiming benefit had risen slightly by 2,600 to 935,300.

Manufacturing was one area to miss out on good news with the number of jobs in the sector falling by 144,000 on a year earlier, to 3.56 million in the three months to January.

Unemployment in the North-East fell 6.5 per cent, or 10,000, to 75,000. Yorkshire and Humberside saw similar numbers with unemployment down 4.6 per cent or 11,000 to 114,000.