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The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent, down 0.2 on the quarter. There were 2.63 million unemployed people, down 45,000 on the quarter.

The UK’s deficit on seasonally adjusted trade in goods and services was £2.7 billion in March. The deficit on trade in goods was £8.6 billion. The surplus on trade in services was estimated at £5.8 billion.

This story on sickness absence covers the following: the number of days lost and sickness absence rates from 1993 to 2011, days lost by type of sickness in 2011, sickness absence rates by gender, workplace size, employment status and sector, and the regional breakdown of sickness absence rates.

In the year to April 2012 the output price index for home sales of manufactured products rose 3.3 per cent. In the same period the total input price index rose by 1.2 per cent.

The total volume of construction output in the first quarter of 2012 fell by 4.8 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2011 (constant 2005 prices, seasonally adjusted)

Production output decreased by 2.6 per cent in March 2012, compared with March 2011. Manufacturing output decreased by 0.9 per cent in March 2012, compared with March 2011.