The Government’s measures to increase employment build on a platform of macro-economic stability and economic growth, and include continued investment in the New Deal, investment in skills and training, welfare reform to help people move from inactivity to work, and the National Minimum Wage and Tax Credits to make work pay. Employment is now at a record high, with over 2.5 million more people in work than in 1997, and the highest employment rate of the G7 economies.