In the 15-64 age group the jobless rate fell from 11.0pc in March-May to 10.9pc, and also dropped from 12.0pc one year earlier. The jobless rate fell and the number of employed rose in both the 15-74 and the 15-64 age groups for the third consecutive three-month period. After months of decline, the activity rate in both age groups rose now for the third three-month period in a row, to 55.6pc and 62.6pc, respectively. The number of unemployed in the 15-64 age group averaged 460,600 in April-June of 2011, falling 5,100 from the previous three-month period and down 12,600 in one year. The number of employed within the 15-64 age group rose 23,200 from March-May to 3,776,800, and was up 28,800 from a year earlier, KSH said. The drops in jobless numbers and the rise in employment numbers were similar in the 15-74 age group where the number of unemployed fell to 460,700 and the number of those employed rose to 3,808,800 in April-June. The employment rate in the 15-64 age group rose 0.4 percentage points as it did in the previous three-month period, to 55.8pc in Q2, and was up 0.5 percentage points from a year earlier. The activity rate of the 15-64 age group rose 0.3 percentage points from March-May, rising slightly faster than one month earlier, and was up also 0.3 percentage points in one year. The activity rate reached a more than three-year peak at 62.9pc last summer before starting to slip in the autumn. The annual average activity rate, at 62.4pc last year, was the highest since 1998. 15.1pc of those unemployed in April-June were between 15-24 years old, who are only present on the labour market to a limited extent. The unemployment rate in this age group was 24.3pc, down 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier. The jobless rate for the most active, 25-54 age group was 10.1pc, dropping 0.3 percentage points in one year. Of all unemployed, 51.4pc have been chasing jobs since one year or more, more than the 50.3pc measured in the preceding three months. The average period of unemployment was 18.7 months, 0.2 months more than in the previous three-month period and 0.7 months longer than a year earlier. Average unemployment in 2010 was 11.2pc, up 1.2 percentage points from 2009. The unemployment rate rose from a low of 7.5pc in the summer of 2008 to peak at 11.8pc in the first months of 2010. The drop which followed slowed since May-July last year, and the rate rose again in the autumn and early this year.