MORE people than ever are in jobs and unemployment is at its lowest for 20 years.

New figures show that there are 27.93 million people in work, the highest ever level.

Meanwhile, the dole queue shrunk last month by a further 22,700 taking it to 1.07 million, the shortest it's been since January 1980.

The figures have been welcomed by Bury North MP David Chaytor, who was also happy that the North West boasted one of the highest rates of employment growth.

"The outlook is now far brighter for those areas which have been hard hit by redundancies and long-term unemployment," he said.

"There are now more opportunities for people to return to work and for those who have never worked to enter the labour market.

"But we now need to look at how we can continue improving the help we give to people, particularly in developing the skills which employers need."