The unemployment rate for July to September was 6% 0.3% lower than April to June and 1.6% lower than last year. There were 1.96m people unemployed, 115,000 fewer than April to June 2014 and 529,000 fewer than last year. The unemployment rate was highest in the North East at 9.2% and lowest in the South East at 4.6%. The economic inactivity rate was 22.2% (9.03m people) about the same as April to June (22.1%) and last year (22.3%). The inactivity rate was highest in Wales at 25.8% and lowest in the East of England at 19.4%.
Average weekly regular pay (excluding bonuses) was £455 per week before tax and other reductions and average total pay (including bonuses) was £481 per week. July to September average regular earnings increased 1.3% over the year and average total earnings were 1% higher than last year. The CPI increased by 1.2%.
The number of JSA claimants has fallen for 24 months in a row and in October was 20,400 down on September 2014 and 373,100 down on last year but is 153,300 higher than the pre-downturn low of 778,400 in February 2008. There were 4.11m people claiming key out of work benefits, 422,400 less than May 2013 and 984,100 less than the 5.10m of February 2010. The claimant count was highest in the North East at 4.7% and lowest in the South East at 1.6%.
There were 687,000 job vacancies in the period August to October 2014, up 22,000 from May to July and 136,000 on last year but 9,000 down on the pre-downturn peak of 696,000 for January to March 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment