Part-time workers drive rise in employment

An increase in the number of part-time and self-employed workers helped drive the UK's employment rate higher in the first three months of the year.

The rate rose to 75.9% between January and March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, up from 75.7% in the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate also rose slightly to 3.9% in the same period.

The ONS said this meant the number of those neither working nor looking for work had continued to fall.

However, it added that the number of people not working due to long-term sickness rose again to a new record.

The latest figures also showed that workers' pay increases are still being outstripped by rising prices.

Growth in regular pay, which excludes bonuses, was 6.7% in the first three months of the year.

However, the ONS said that when prices rises are taken into account, regular pay fell by 2%