North East-South East Divide In Labour Market

The employment rate was highest in the South East with 75.1% and lowest in the North East with 66.1%. The unemployment rate was highest in the North East with 10.4% and lowest in the South East with 5.8%. Inactivity was highest in the North East with a rate of 26% and lowest in the South East with 19.7%. The claimant count was highest in the North East at 7.1% and lowest in the South East at 2.7%.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 7.8% down 0.2% from December 2012 to February 2013 and 0.3% on a year earlier. There were 2.51m people unemployed, a fall of 57,000 from December 2012 to February 2013 and 72,000 on the year. Inactivity was up 0.2% to 22.5%. The number of young unemployed fell 20,000 to 959,000.

Total pay rose by 1.7% to £476/week and regular pay by 1% to £446/week compared with March to May 2012. Average weekly hours worked for March to May totalled 32 up 0.1 from December to February and a year earlier. The claimant count was 1.48m, down 117,700 on the year. The rate was 4.4% down 0.1% from May 2013.

There were 32.3m workforce jobs in March 2013, up 211,000 from December and 161,000 on the year. The biggest increase sectorally was in professional, scientific and technical jobs with an increase of 118,000 to 2.56m. There were 529,000 vacancies, up 24,000 from January to March and 56,000 on the year.

Unemployment Down 0.1%

Unemployment was down 0.1% on June to August figures with 2.49m people unemployed according to the ONS Labour Market Survey statistical bulletin for January 2013. The number of unemployed is down 37,000 on June to August and 185,000 on a year earlier. The ONS also reports that 71.4% of the working population were in employment. The number of young unemployed people increased by 1,000 to 957,000 16-24 year olds. The number of young people in employment also increased by 12,000 to 3.72m.

The number of people employed in the public sector fell by 24,000 to 5.75m. In the private sector the numbers employed totalled 23.86m, up 65,000 from June 2012. There was an inactivity rate of 22.5% the same as June to August 2012 but 0.7% down on the previous year.

The total actual hours worked were 944.3m in September to November 2012, an increase of 7.8m. Average weekly hours were up 0.2 on June to August and 0.1 on the previous year at 31.8.

Total pay increased by 1.5% and regular pay increased by 1.4% compared with September to November 2011. In November 2012 average total pay was £472/week and average regular pay was £444/week.

Unemployment Down 0.1% On Quarter

The unemployment rate was 8.1% down 0.1% on the quarter. It means the number of unemployed people fell by 7,000 to 2.59m. The employment rate was up 0.5% to 71.2% which represents an increase of 236,000 to 29.56m people.

Total pay which includes bonuses increased by 1.5% on last year to £471/week in July 2012. Regular pay (excluding bonuses) increased by 1.9% to £443/week, an increase of 0.1% on the three months to June. Average weekly hours worked amounted to 31.6 during the three months to July.

Labour disputes cost 9,000 working hours from 17 disputes in July. In the 12 months to July total hours lost due to labour disputes amounted to 1.24m from 129 stoppages. These include time lost due to strikes by several trade unions over disputes related to pension schemes for public sector workers.