Unemployment Down In October

The unemployment rate fell to 7.8% in October, a fall of 0.2% on May to July. The employment rate (16-64) was 71.2% up 0.1% on May to July. The number of unemployed was 2.51m, down 82,000 on the three monthly comparison and 128,000 on the year. The inactivity rate was 22.6%, or an economically inactive population of 9.07m (16-64) up 60,000 on the three months previous but down 249,000 on last year. There were 489,000 job vacancies for September to November 2012 or 1.8 vacancies per 100 employee jobs. In terms of duration, 1.16m people had been unemployed for up to 6 months, 442,000 people had been unemployed for between 6 and 12 months and 904,000 had been unemployed for over 1 year and 449,000 people had been unemployed for over 2 years. Total hours worked amounted to 949m for August to October 2012 and average weekly hours worked were 32.1. Earnings or payment for work done before tax and other deductions averaged (incl. bonuses) £471/week total pay and £443/week regular pay. The number of employees reached 25.12m, the self-employed totalled 4.2m, unpaid family workers reached 111,000 and the number of people on government schemes totalled 171,000.