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New figures show the UK unemployment rate remained the same at 5.2 per cent last quarter, it has emerged.

According to findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), some 682,800 jobs were created in the first three months of 2008.

This could be good news for students currently coming to the end of their courses as they are likely to be looking for employment.

Figures also revealed the employment rate for those at a working age rose by 0.1 per cent from the previous quarter to 74.9 per cent.

Ian Brinkley, associate director at the Work Foundation, told The Recruiter: "The labour market is still showing no signs of real weakness. Nor is there much evidence that employers are worried about the future – all the new jobs are permanent."

He added that the figures may be "backward looking" but they do not show any signs that redundancies in City firms have had an adverse impact on the finance and business service sector as a whole.

The ONS is a government department which is responsible for collecting official statistics about society and economy in the UK and publishing them.

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