UK Unemployment
Labour Market Statistics
January 20 2010 - The unemployment rate stands at 7.8% - down by 0.1% over the quarter but up 1.6% on last year.
Nearly 29 million people were in work in the period September to November according to the labour force survey (LFS).
The number of people employed was down by 14,000 this quarter and down by 451,000 on the last year.
The working age employment rate is 72.4% - down by 0.1% on the last quarter
and down 1.7% on the last year.
ILO-defined unemployment in September to November was 2.46 million (7.8%) -
down by 7,000 unemployed on June-August but up 511,000 from this time last year.
The claimant count for key out-of-work benefits was 1,606,500 in December -
down by 15,200 on last month, but up 430,700 on last year.
Earnings growth over the year to November (including bonuses) was 1.6%,
up 0.1% on the previous month.
According to Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:
"The jobs market is still tough for a lot of people, but the drop in unemployment and youth unemployment is very welcome. It means 450,000 fewer people are out of work than everyone expected last spring. The extra investment in jobs, education and training is making a real difference, helping people through the recession and preventing the kind of unemployment we saw in the eighties and nineties.
"However we know that things will still be difficult and unemployment is still likely to rise over the next few months. That is why we are determined to keep increasing the help and support to get people into jobs and training."
Minster for Employment Jim Knight, said:
"These figures show the largest number of people coming off unemployment benefit for 15 years which is a sign that our £5bn investment to get people back to work is having an impact. The fact that tens of thousands more young people are taking up the Government's guarantee of a place in education or training means that they are getting the valuable skills they need to get into work.
"New figures published today show that more than 25,000 people have benefited from the new Six Month Offer, while the sixth round of winning Future Jobs Fund bidders will create almost 6,000 more jobs for young people. This brings the total number of successful bids to create jobs through the Fund so far to almost 104,000. This is in addition to more than 400,000 people who have been helped into jobs through the Job Centres' Local Employment Partnerships."
Commenting on the latest statistics, John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the CIPD, said:
"The latest unemployment figures are good news on the face of things, but only on the face of things. Taken in the round, the latest figures show that the UK jobs market remains in a far from healthy state and it would be wrong to conclude that unemployment has peaked.
"The number of people in work fell slightly in the three months to November 2009, another sharp drop (-113,000) in people working full-time not quite being fully offset by another rise in part-time employment (+99,000). The number of people working part-time is now at a record 1.03 million, as they are unable to find a full-time job.
"The reason for the fall in unemployment in the quarter is a jump of 81,000 in the number of economically inactive students - indicating that ever larger numbers of young people are turning to study to avoid the dole. This is desirable as an alternative to unemployment although it remains to be seen whether education or training is merely a stop-gap choice for thousands more young people rather than providing a genuine boost to their subsequent job prospects.
"A worrying feature of the latest figures is an indication that job prospects for the over-50s may have started to deteriorate for the first time since the start of the recession in 2008. The over-50s not only suffered a quarterly fall in employment but were also the only age group to register a rise in unemployment (up by 15,000).
"Men continue to fare less well than women in terms of employment, women benefiting more from the rise in part-time jobs. However, more women entered the labour market in search of work in the three months to November while more men exited the market, with the result that female unemployment increased and male unemployment decreased. There are now more than 1 million jobless men outside the labour market - and thus not counted as unemployed - who say they want a job.
"Finally, the ONS’ newly published Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) measure - which replaces the Average Earnings Index - paints a stark picture of the pay squeeze on private sector workers during the recession and the degree to which pay has continued to rise relatively rapidly in the public sector. The total weekly pay of private sector workers actually fell in most months of 2009, whereas in the public sector pay growth of well over 3% was common. This disparity will need to be tackled as the government gets to grips with reducing the fiscal deficit.”
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