Unemployment falls to 7.8 per cent

Youth unemployment down by 0.8 per cent.

By Alex Hern Published 14 November 2012
Changes in number of people in the labour market between July to September 2007
Changes in number of people in the labour market between July to September 2007 and July to September 2012, seasonally adjusted

Following the bad news of yesterday's spike in inflation, the picture is slightly better in the labour market.

The unemployment rate has fallen this month, from 7.9 per cent to 7.8 per cent. The total has also fallen, by 49,000, to make 2.51m out of work. The employment rate similarly rose to 71.2 per cent, or 29.58 million (As ever, the absolute numbers are less important than the rates, since they fail to take into account population growth).

Encouragingly, there was a fall in youth unemployment by 49,000 people, meaning that the entirety of the labour market improvement is due to an improving state of affairs for young people. The rate of youth unemployment fell accordingly, by 0.8 points, but is still at 20.7 per cent.

Long-term unemployment has risen slightly to 900,000.

 
 

1 comment

Obi Wan Kenobi's picture

Wed, 2012-11-14 13:16 — Obi Wan Kenobi (not verified)

What a fiddle, the only reason unemployment is coming down is because the unemployed are being referred to the governments Work Programme and as such are removed from the official unemployment figures.

They still sign on and claim Jobseekers Allowance £142 a fortnight, you dummies.

Iain Duncan Smith cooking the books again, see it for what it is.

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