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.

More People Underemployed Than Overemployed

Since the start of the year, more people are saying that they feel underemployed than overemployed and would like to work more hours if the job allowed according to the ONS Economic and Labour Market Review. In the past it was the other way around. Overemployment levels were a million higher than underemployment levels on average from 2001 to 2008. Time-related underemployment means people want to work more hours for more pay and overemployment means they want less hours for less pay. There were 2.81 million time-related underemployed people in January-March 2010 compared with 2.75 million time-related overemployed people.

Increase In Long-Term Unemployment

The employment rate for October to December 2009 was 72.4%, down 0.1% on the quarter and 28.91m employed people, down 12,000. The number in full-time employment fell 37,000 to 21.22m. Part-time employment increased by 25,000 to 7.67m. The workforce also included 1.04m part-time people looking for a full-time job, the highest since 1992, up 37,000 on the quarter.

The unemployment rate was unchanged 7.8% and there were 2.46m unemployed people, 3,000 fewer than the last quarter. There were 37,000 more long-term unemployed over the quarter to give a total of 663,000, the highest figure since the quarter to September 1997. There were 725,00 18-24 year olds unemployed. In January 2010 there were 1.64m people claiming Job Seeker's Allowance, an increase of 23,500 since December 2009 following two successive monthly falls. The claimant count rate is 5%.

The inactivity rate for the quarter to December was uo 0.2% to 21.3%. The highest ever inactivity rate recorded was 23.3% in 1983. There were 8.06m inactive working age people over the quarter due to an increase of 72,000 thanks to an increase of 62,000 students to 2.62m, the highest since records began.

The number of vacancies in the three months to January 2010 was 479,000, an increase of 49,000. There were 1.8 vacancies for every 100 employee jobs. Redundancies totalled 168,000 in the three months to December. The redundancy rate was 6.8 per 1000 employees.

Total pay (including bonuses) rose by 0.8% on last year to £451/week. Regular pay (excluding bonuses) rose by 1.2% on last year to £425/week. Private sector average total pay in December 2009 was £448/week and was unchanged on a year earlier. Average regular pay was £416/week. Public sector average total pay was £457/week and rose 3.7% over the year. Average regular pay (excluding bonuses) in the public sector was £456/week and rose 3.9% over the year.

Whole economy unit wage costs rose by 4.1% in the third quarter of 2009 compared with a year earlier while productivity was 3.1% lower. Manufacturing unit wage costs decreased by 0.7% while manufacturing productivity increased by 3.6% over the same period.

Public sector employment totalled 6.09m, an increase of 23,000 and the private sector accounted for 22.82m, up 15,000 from June 2009. There were 30.86m workforce jobs in September 2009, down 127,000 over the quarter and 649,00 over the year. Construction alone fell by 67,000, agriculture by 1,000, production jobs fell by 41,000 and services by 18,000. There were 2.6m employee jobs in manufacturing.

Hours worked totalled 907.0m in the quarter to December, down 1.8m on the previous qaurter. Average weekly hours in the quarter to December were 31.5, unchanged from September 2009.

In the three months to December 2009 there were 25.26m UK nationals and 3.72m non-UK people in employment. Some 3,000 working days were lost due to 11 labour dispute stoppages.

Fall In Productivity In Q2 2009

The productivity statistics for the second quarter of 2009 were released by the ONS on Wednesday. They show that whole economy output per worker decreased by 3.9% in the second quarter of 2009 from a fall of 4.4% in the previous quarter. Quarter-on quarter output per worker increased by 0.3% in Q2 after a fall of 2% in the previous quarter. Unit wage costs in Q2 for the whole economy increased 5.7% compared with Q2 2008. They increased by 1.6% on the first quarter and 1.5% on the previous quarter.

Using output per hour worked, an alternative measure of productivity, Q2 2009 saw a decrease of 3.4% for the same quarter a year ago and total hours worked fell by 2.4%.

Manufacturing output/hour decreased by 2.7% and services by 3.3% in Q2 2009. Services output/job decreased by 3.6%. The increase in the contraction rate of services productivity is partly due to an increase in the contraction rate of output partly offset by an increase in the contraction rate of services jobs.

Farmworkers Pay In January

Full-time male agricultural workers earned on average £367.48/week or £8.09/hour for an average 45.4 hour week during January 2009 an increase of £0.83 on 2008. Female workers earned £7.17. Farm managers earned on average £551.43/week. Over the year to January 2009 the figures were £381.12/week or £7.88/hour for an average 48.4 hour week. Managers got £524.71/week according to the latest figures from DEFRA.

There are to be some changes to the survey in future. The survey will in future be published on an annual basis for the 12 months ending in September. The quarterly data will help achieve a representative sample of workers across the year.

Falls In Employment Rate And Pay In July

There isn't much good news in the ONS Labour Market Survey for September. The number of unemployed, the unemployment rate and the claimant count have all increased. The number of inactive people of working age and the inactivity rate have increased and growth in average earnings has decreased in the three months to July, the period the survey covered. The employment rate has fallen to 72.5% and the total employment level was 28.89 million.

There was another fall in the number of people working in manufacturing at 2.65 million, down 221,000. Total hours worked per week was 908.7 million. Average weekly hours in the quarter to July was 31.5 down 0.1 from April.

The unemployment rate was 7.9% or 2.47 million in the quarter to July 2009, up 743,000 on last year. There were 567,000 people unemployed for over 12 months and 731,000 18-24 year olds. There were 22,000 people 25 years and over claiming for over 2 years. The claimant count was 1.61 million up 693,700 on last year. The economic inactivity rate was 21.1% or 7.99 million in the quarter. That is an increase of 97,000 over the quarter and 125,000 over the year.

Average earnings however increased 2.2% on last year, down 0.2% from June. Pay including bonuses was up 1.7% on the year. Unit wage costs were up 3.6% in the first quarter of the year. In the quarter to July 2009 manufacturing unit wage costs increased by 4.3% and productivity decreased by 3.4%.

There were a total of 434,000 job vacancies in the three months to August, down 12,000, which meant there were 1.7 vacancies for every 100 employee jobs. There were also 246,000 redundancies over the quarter at a rate of 9.8 for every 1000 employees. In July 2009 there were 24,000 working days losts due to labour disputes from 10 stoppages.

People Watch Over 3.5 Hours Of TV Every Day

Individuals watch 3.56 hours of TV every day compared with 3.96 hours in Q1 2009. Non-terrestrial channels growth rate is slowing down as digital TV penetrates 67.3% of homes. They have now reached a viewing level of 41.7%, over 40% for the first time. Commercial channels increased their share to 63.4%. Figures from IPA Q2 2009 Trends in Television Report.

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%.

Unemployment Up To 7.2% At 2.26m

The number of unemployed was up 232,000 to 2.26m in the 3 months to April and up 603,000 from last year. The unemployment rate was 0.7% up to 7.2% in the 3 months to April and 1.9% on a year earlier. The number of long-term unemployed was 515,000 in the 3 months to April, 54,000 more than in the 3 months to January. There were 695,000 unemployed 18-24 year olds in 3 months to April, up 74,000 from the 3 months to January. The claimant count in May was 1.54m or 4.8%, up 39,300 or 0.1% on the month and up 726,000 or 2.2% on the year. The number of people claiming key out of work benefits was 4.53m in November 2008.

The employment rate down to 73.3% in 3 months to April, 0.8% down from 3 months to January and 1.5% down on the year. The number of employed people was down 271,000 to 29.1m on 3 months to January and 399,000 on year. 21.61m of the working population were in full-time employment. Of these, 6.02m were in public sector employment, up 15,000 from December 2008. In the private sector there were 23.09 people employed down 286,000 on December last year. There were 31.19m workforce jobs in March 2009 down 108,000 on the quarter and 455,000 on the year. The manufacturing sector showed the biggest decline at 78,000 jobs less than the last quarter.

Total working time over the 3 months to April came to 918.9m hours, down 16.8m on January. Average weekly hours worked in 3 months to April were 31.6. The number of inactive people of working age is up on 3 months ago. There were 7.89m in April. The economic inactivity rate was 20.8%, up 0.2% on 3 months to January.

Whole economy average earnings rose by 2.7% on the year. Earnings growth, excluding bonuses was down, but earnings growth, including bonuses, was up 0.8% on year.

In the 3 months to May 2009 there were 38,000 fewer vacancies than in February, down 230,000 on year, to 444,000. There were 1.7 vacancies for every 100 jobs. 302,000 people had become redundant, up 36,000 on quarter and 191,000 on year.