Labour force up 6% since 2006, census shows

New results from last year’s census show the labour force has increased by almost 6% since 2006.

The latest figures show that there were 2,232,203 in the labour force in Apr 2011 — an increase of 122,705 over the previous five years, with females accounting for the overwhelming majority of the increase.

Over the same period, the number of retired people grew by 21% to 457,394, an increase of almost 80,000, while the student population increased almost 17% to just under 409,000.