The unemployment rate bottomed out at 7.5pc in the middle of 2008. The jobless rate for the 15-64 age group was 11.5pc in December-February, also up 0.6 percentage points from the previous three months. The number of unemployed in the 15-74 age group grew by 23,100 from November-January to 478,700. The number rose 101,000 in one year. The unemployment rate among men rose by 2.6 percentage points and the rate among women rose 2 percentage points. The number of employed fell by 24,000 from the previous three months and fell 64,000 in one year to 3,725,900 in December-February. The workforce participation rate remained unchanged from November-January at 61.7pc for the 15-64 age group, and was also unchanged, at 54.7pc for the 15-74 age group. The workforce participation rate was 64.3pc for the 15-61 age group, also unchanged from November-January. The number of employed in the 15-64 age group fell by 67,000 from a year earlier to 3,695,000 in December-February. People between the ages of 15 and 24 accounted for 17.2pc of unemployed. The unemployment rate among this age group was 27.5pc, 4.4 percentage points more than a year earlier. The unemployment rate in the 25-54 age group climbed 2.5 percentage points to 10.7pc in the same period. About 44.9pc of the unemployed had looked for a job for a year or more. The average time spent unemployed fell by 1.1 months to 16.3 months in December-February from the same period a year earlier.