george osborne declared britain had reached a ‘massive moment’ after new figures revealed there have never been more people in work the chancellor said 733 per cent of working age people were employed – the highest rate since records began in 1971 the government said the uk had enjoyed the fastest growth in employment of any major economy in the world over the past year scroll down for video  chancellor george osborne, who has said that 733 per cent of working age people are now in employment  the jobless total is 186million, the lowest since the summer of 2008 and almost half a million down on a year ago the unemployment rate is 57 per cent, compared to a european union average of 98 per cent mr osborne said 1,000 more people had found employment every day since the coalition came to power in 2010, with a record 3094million people now working the proportion of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance has also fallen to its lowest level for 40 years, according to the office for national statistics addressing mps yesterday, mr osborne boasted: ‘the evidence is plain to see britain is working again’ work and pensions secretary iain duncan smith, who hailed the 'remarkable' employment figures  the chancellor said it had been a ‘truly national recovery’, with more cities in the north and the midlands feeling the benefits of the uk’s economic growth he added: ‘where is employment growing fastest? the north west where is a job being created every ten minutes? the midlands and which county has created more jobs than the whole of france? the great county of yorkshire ‘we are getting the whole of britain back to work’ forecasts published by the independent office for budget responsibility yesterday showed the number of people in employment would rise by another million by 2019 it also predicted the uk’s unemployment rate will fall from the current 53 per cent to 52 per cent next year, returning to 53 per cent until 2019 meanwhile, the ons revealed that annual growth in private sector employment was five times the size of the fall in the public sector this challenges claims by labour that the private sector would not be able to compensate for the number of people made redundant by the state as a result of spending cuts public sector employment fell by 140,000 last year to 54million, the lowest level since records began in 1999 and a fall of almost a million since its peak in late 2009 but employment in the private sector hit a record high of 255million, after rising by 757,000 in just one year work and pensions secretary iain duncan smith said: ‘this is a remarkable set of figures, which underlines this government’s success in backing businesses to create jobs, and supporting british people to seize those opportunities ‘as a country we should be proud that there are now record numbers of people in work, record numbers of job vacancies available, and the lowest unemployment rate since 2008 ‘for every single day that this government has been in power we have seen an average of 1,000 more people in work’ prime minister david cameron said: ‘the highest employment rate in our history is not a dry fact ‘it means more people with the security of a pay packet and a brighter future’ nick clegg may have praised the liberal democrats’ contribution to the budget – but last night his party was preparing its own rival offering, writes tamara cohen in a highly unusual move, treasury chief danny alexander will today address the house of commons to outline lib dem economic plans he will even have his own yellow budget box, which will later be handed over to a party donor who paid £1,500 for it at an auction during the spring conference last weekend lib dem leader and deputy prime minister nick clegg, takes in yesterday's budget in the house of commons  treasury chief danny alexander will today address the house of commons to outline lib dem economic plans  after skipping last year’s autumn statement, mr clegg made sure he was on the front bench to hear the good news in the budget yesterday, but was spotted fiddling with his phone and pulling a series of faces he has insisted it was a ‘coalition budget’ but the chief secretary to the treasury will say today that while his party supports the plans for this year, after 2016 it would diverge from them dramatically in a speech some labour and tory mps are likely to see as a misuse of government time, mr alexander will propose more borrowing for infrastructure he is expected to accuse the tories of making ‘cuts for cuts’ sake’ – and labour of planning a spending spree if they win office the lib dems want to increase the personal tax allowance to £12,500, add more council tax bands for expensive homes, and raise capital gains tax for the wealthiest a senior lib dem said: ‘our spending plans post 2015 16 differ from the tories in a number of key areas we agree on the need to balance the current budget by 2017 18, but they are talking about running a surplus by carrying on cutting after that’
george osborne 733% 186million the summer of 2008 40 years
chancellor george osborne says 733% of work age people are employed . declared it was a 'massive moment' and highest rate since records began . the jobless total is now 186million, the lowest since the summer of 2008 . proportion of people on jobseeker's allowance at lowest level for 40 years 