Although this means 210,000 more people have jobs than during the same time last year, 210,000 fewer people have jobs than in the same period in 2008.
Welcoming the figures, Minister of State for Employment, Chris Grayling, said: "The private sector is leading the way and creating jobs and opportunities for people across the country.
"Nonetheless, we have more to do to help those on benefits continue to move into work as well. We have to get our labour force ready for the recovery and our benefit claimants ready for the workplace."
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "While any fall in unemployment is welcome, it would be dangerously naïve to believe that these figures constitute a jobs recovery. With unemployed people outnumbering job vacancies by five to one it's time the government focused on helping them back into work, rather than insisting that the labour market is flourishing."
The statistics were released a day after a report that claimed that there is "little hope" that the government can cut unemployment in poor areas.
The paper, produced by Sheffield Hallam University, said that among the third of the UK population that lives in the worst 10 districts, unemployment averages 18%.
The report also said that a private sector resurgence alone would not be enough to tackle unemployment, with a job creation scheme also being needed.
Steve Fothergill, who led the research, said: "We have worked out that the up-front annual cost to the Exchequer of creating 100,000 jobs for former incapacity benefit claimants would be around £1.2bn. But allowing for benefit savings and additional tax revenues the net cost to the Exchequer for this approach would be just £440m."
Commenting on the ONS’ statistics, Steven Kirkpatrick, MD at Adecco, said: "We are not surprised to see the figures suggesting that the level of unemployment in the UK has stayed very much the same as the last month. Whilst employers’ confidence remains conservative, we are optimistic, having experienced a steady uptake in recruitment activity across permanent, temporary and part time roles, nationally."
Last week Ministers launched their white paper, Universal Credit: welfare that works, designed to simplify the current benefit system.
