Unemployment Down 0.2% To 8%

The unemployment rate fell 0.2% to 8% between April and June 2012 leaving 2.56m people aged over 16 unemployed, down 46,000 on the quarter. The employment rate was 71%, up 0.4%. The number of full-time workers increased by 130,000 to 21.41m and part-time workers increased by 71,000 to 8.07m. The economic inactivity rate for 16-64 year olds was 22.6% the lowest figure since 1991.

Average total pay was £469/week in June 2012. Average regular pay was £442/week. Total hours worked in the economy was 934.7m/week or an average of 31.7 hours/week.

There were 472,000 job vacancies in the three months to July 2012, up 10,000 on the previous three months, or 1.8 job vacancies per 100 employee jobs.

Earnings and Hours of Agricultural Workers 2010

The latest release from Defra regarding the earnings and hours of agricultural workers was released recently and shows that in 2010 male full-time workers earned £8.20 per hour for a 47.5 hour week. The average weekly wage was £390. Female full-time workers earned an average £7.09 per hour for a 43 hour week. Male part-time workers earned on average £170 per week at £7.65 per hour while females earned £150 per week for an average of £6.93 per hour.

The average Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) minimum earnings/hour for male full-time workers was £7.74, female full-time workers £7.09, male part-timers £6.96 and females £6.57 per hour.

Agricultural Labour 2010

There were 293,000 people working on commercial agricultural holdings in 2010 unchanged from 2009 compared with the 312,000 in 2008. There was a total of 170,000 farmers, partners directors and spouses, up 3% on 2009. There were 11,000 salaried managers, an increase of 1% on 2009. The other 112,000 workers (-4%) included 47,000 full-time workers (+3%), 28,000 part-time workers (-4%) and 37,000 casual workers (-12%).

A comparison can also be made between those working on "commercial" holdings and the total for "all" holdings in 2009. The total number of people working on "all" holdings in 2009 was 363,000. Farmers, partners, directors and spouses totalled 223,000 compared with 165,000, salaried managers totalled 12,000 on "all" holdings compared with 10,000 working on "commercial" holdings. Other workers totalled 128,00 on "all" holdings and 117,000 on "commercial" holdings.

Employers Aware Of AWD

The Report on Jobs survey for January produced by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG says that permanent placements have increased for the sixth consecutive month but not as strongly as last month. Temporary/contract placements also rose markedly. Demand for staff increased with vacancies up for the fourth consecutive month and at the strongest rate since July 2007.

Salaries are continuing to increase but at a slightly slower rate of growth in January. By historical standards the growth is still weak.

REC JobsOutlook says that 85% of businesses have now heard of Agency Workers Directive (AWD), 18 months ago less than 50%. Recruitment agencies must be able to meet the demands of their clients and be ready to answer any questions.