Part-time Britain hits record high as unemployment falls The number of people claiming JSA increased for the 17th month in a row in March, up by 3,600 to 1.61 million, the smallest monthly rise since last December. Long-term unemployment hit a 16-year high, with the number of people out of work for over a year jumping by 26,000 to 883,000. There was a 53,000 increase in the number of people in employment to 29m, although the figure is 57,000 down on a year ago. However, there were 61,000 fewer retired people below the age of 65, the ONS said, suggesting fewer Britons felt they could afford to retire early in the curent climate. This helped ease the economically inactive total, down overall by 25,000 to 9.3m. But there were 34,000 more "stay-at-home" mums, the ONS said. Youth unemployment eased on previous quarters, with 1.03m unemployed 16-to-24-year-olds between December and February, down by 9,000 from the three months to November and the lowest total since last autumn. The number of people classed as economically inactive, including those on long-term sick leave, students, those looking after a relative or who have given up looking for work, fell by 25,000 to 9.27 million, a rate of 23pc. Average earnings increased by 1.1pc in the year to February, down by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month to the lowest since the summer of 2010. Average weekly pay in private firms is £459, compared with £477 in the public sector. There were 1.4m working days lost through strikes in the year to February, the highest total since 2002, largely as a result of last November's walkout by public sector workers in the row over pensions.