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Unemployment falls by 82,000

UK unemployment has fallen by 82,000 to 2.51m, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggests.

The overall unemployment rate is now 7.8%, which represents a fall of 0.2 percentage points on the previous three months.

Unemployment was highest in the North East at 9.5% and lowest in the South West at 5.7%.

The percentage of long term unemployed was highest for people aged over 50. Long term unemployed is classified as out-of-work for 12 months or more.

Part time work levels fell by 13,000 while the level of full-time employment increased by 44,000. The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance was also shown to have fallen by 3,000.

Graeme Leach, Chief Economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “The puzzle intensifies. Employment is shooting for the stars whilst the economy crawls along the floor. Employment is up by 0.5 million year-on-year whilst the economic outlook looks more L- than V-shaped.

“Whilst the growth in employment is positive we shouldn’t forget that real earnings growth is negative, with inflation rising faster than pay. So one festive cheer but not two.”

Neil Carberry, CBI director for Employment and Skills, said: “Dig a little deeper and a huge challenge remains. Private sector jobs growth has tapered off sharply, while the three months to October saw the lowest number of people finding work since the turn of the year. It is deeply troubling that more than a third of unemployed people have now been out of work for more than a year.

“Although 72,000 fewer young people were out of work in three months to October, a fifth of our young people are still unemployed. So we support the Employment Minister’s decision today to extend the youth contract wage incentive to all young people.

“In 2013 unemployment will continue to be a serious problem for everyone in the UK, so there is clearly no room for complacency from the Government – only real and immediate action on infrastructure, investment and exports will generate jobs.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .