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.

Milk Prices Rise In April

The UK average farm gate price of milk excluding bonuses was 27.91p/litre, up 1.5p/l on April 2011 according to Defra. The butterfat content increased from 4.02% in April 2011 to 4.06% in 2012. The average protein content also increased from 3.22% to 3.26% over the same period.

Unemployment Rate At 8%

The ONS Labour Market Survey says that for December 2009 to February 2010 there were 2.5 million people unemployed and the unemployment rate was 8%. The employment rate was given as 72.1% or 28.82 million employed people. There were also 8.16 million economically inactive people equalling 21.5%. Pay including bonuses rose by 2.3% and pay excluding bonuses rose by 1.7%. Yorkshire and Humberside had the highest unemployment rate at 9.5%, the North East and the West Midlands both had 9.5%. The South East, South West and N. Ireland had the lowest with 6.4%. The figures compare with the 64.8% employment rate for July-September 2009 and the 9.6% unemployment rate for February 2010 that are the averages in the EU.

The 72.1% employment rate is the lowest it has been since October 1996. as the number of people in employment fell by 89,000 (F/T 59,000 and P/T 30,000). It was 74.9% for men and 69% for women. The number of unemployed increased by 43,000. The number unemployed for over 6 months fell by 46,000 to 1.22 million. The number of people unemployed for over 12 months increased by 89,000 to reach 726,000 the highest since July 1997. The 2.5 million unemployed people included 1.53 million unemployed men, up 23,000, and 970,000 unemployed women, up 20,000 since three months ending in November. The number of employed people was made up of 13.47 million men and 7.69 million women. Part-time workers totalled 7.67 million of which 1.88 million were men and 5.79 million people were women. The public sector employed 6.1 million people and the private sector 22.76 million people in December 2009.

There were 1.54 million people claiming Job Seeker's Allowance between February and March 2010. The count has fallen 4 out of the last 5 months. The inactivity rate is the highest it has been since October 2004. The number of inactive people was 110,000 which includes 71,000 students. Vacancies increased by 9,000 to 475,000. There were 30.75 million workforce jobs in December 2009. There were 30.75 million workforce jobs, down 119,000 over the quarter to December 2009. The largest decrease was in distribution, hotels and restaurants with 62,000 job losses. Most of the workforce jobs were in London and the South East, the least jobs in England were in the North East, in Wales and N.Ireland.

The annual growth rate for total earnings was 2.3% driven mainly by the financial sector's higher bonuses and a change in timing of payment of bonuses from January last year to February this year. Annual regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 1.7% in February up from 1.5% in the three months to January 2010. Average total pay was £443/week and average regular pay £428/week. In the private sector average total pay was £451/week and average regular pay £418/week. In the public sector average total pay was £462/week and average regular pay was £459/week. There were a total of 912.8 million hours worked in the quarter to February 2010. Average weekly hours were 31.7 hours.

Redundancies went down by 20,000 to 6.5/1000 employees. Labour disputes lost 3,000 working days in February 2010 and in the 12 months to February 440,000 working days were lost from 100 stoppages.

The 18-24 year old bracket increased by 14.1% over the year overall and by 39.9% for 6-12 months and 56.9% for over 12 months while up to 6 months fell by 4.8% over the year. Agriculture, forestry and fishing jobs decreased by 3.8% on the quarter and 3% on the year to February.

Manufacturing Jobs Hit All Time Low

The number of people unemployed has risen to 2.38m up 281,000 in the three months to May giving an unemployment rate of 7.6% and 753,000 on the year. The claimant count has increased to 1.56m. The number of inactive people of working age has increased and the economic inactivity rate has risen to 20.9% in the quarter. There are fewer vacancies. The number of vacancies was 429,000 down 35,000 on the quarter and 222,000 on the year. The number of redundancies was up 31,000 to 301,000 in the three months to May and 182,000 on the year. There were 31.19m workforce jobs in March. That is 108,000 down on the quarter and 455,000 fewer over the year. The number of manufacturing jobs in the quarter was 2.68m, the lowest figure since 1978 and is 201,000 or 7% down on the year. There were a total of 918.8m hours worked in the quarter to May and the average weekly hours worked was unchanged at 31.7. Average earnings annual growth rate for the whole economy excluding bonuses was 2.6% and including bonuses was 2.3%.