The line graph illustrates the trends in unemployment in the UK between May 2003 and July 2006. The study has taken into account individuals 16 and older.
Overall, the most rapid changes occured at the beginning and at the end of the period. For the majority of the time the percentage remained fairly stable.
In May 2003 unemployment rates stood at nearly 5.1 per cent. Then they rose slightly to 5.2 per cent when they suffered a drastic fall. 2 months later the line reached around 4.9 per cent where it levelled off for 8 weeks before reaching an all time low of 4.8 per cent.
From July 2004 to September 2005 it witnessed some slight fluctuations but generally stayed at this level. However, afterwards the figure sharply shot up to 5.2 per cent. In addition, a month later there was another marked upward trend and it reached a peak of approximately 5.7 per cent in July 2006.