Employment levels have reached a record high, according to figures released on Wednesday.

The number of people in work rose by 28,000 over the past quarter to 28.15 million - the highest since records began in 1984.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefits is at the lowest number since 1975 at 926,900 - a fall of 3,300 over the past three months.

However, the number of people seeking work increased by 12,000 during the same time period.

Although there are now 1,481,000 people out of work, an unemployment rate of five per cent, that figure is still 700,000 less than at the same time a year ago.

The minister for work, Des Browne, welcomed the figures.

"The UK has the highest employment rate and lowest unemployment rate of the big seven industrialised countries," he said.

"We have achieved this through economic stability combined with policies to tackle the barriers that can prevent some individuals from finding work."

But Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, focused on the evidence that manufacturing continues to struggle, with 12,000 jobs lost in the sector in the quarter to September.

"With major government spending announcements due soon, relief for our people in manufacturing cannot come too quickly," he said.

"Our economy is underpinned by manufacturing. The case for support becomes stronger each day but we believe the decline can and must be reversed."

The Liberal Democrats claimed the government had "given up the fight" for the sector.

"Claims of record employment levels cannot mask the continuing decline in the manufacturing sector," said spokesman Paul Holmes.

"The government has given up the fight to save manufacturing jobs. It's done nothing to help save the jobs and has left in the lurch the families dependent on those jobs to survive.

"Ministers must get to grips with the real economy of our towns and rural areas. Small scale factory closures have as detrimental an effect on the local community as the high-profile collapses that make news headlines."