Unemployment Down in UK

Unemployment figures in the UK dipped in the second quarter of this year to 2.46 million, a fall of 49,000 according to new figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

The drop marks the largest fall in unemployment since 2007, whilst the number of people in employment saw its largest rise for 21 years dating back to 1989, increasing by 184,000 people.

The figures have also shown a drop in the claimant count, the number of people out of work and receiving job seekers allowance now stands at 1.46 million, down by 3,800. 

The heavy rise in the number of people in employment comes largely thanks to a large influx in the number of people taking on part-time positions.   These saw an increase of 115,000, taking the number of people in part-time roles to its highest figure since comparable records began back in 1992, at 7.84 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people in full time employment also rose to 21.18 million, up by 68,000.

The UK unemployment rate now stands at 7.8%. This is a fall of 0.2% on the previous quarter.  On a regional scale, the rate for England fell 7.7% from 7.9%, whilst Northern Ireland’s rate also dropped by 0.2% to 7.7% and Wales’ rate saw a fall of 0.3% down to 9%.

Meanwhile, Scotland was the only UK country to see a rise in unemployment for the quarter, up to 8.4% from 8.2%.

The ONS also said that average pay was up by 1.3% on a year earlier, a slower annual rate of growth than in the previous three months.

Posted at 04:21PM Aug 11, 2010 by Marc Stenton in The Economy  |  Comments[0]