East Of England Lowest Unemployment Rate

The regional labour market statistics from the ONS show that the unemployment rate was highest in the North East (10.2%) and lowest in the East of England (5.8%). The employment rate was highest in the South East (76.2%) and lowest in the North East (67.3%). Inactivity was at its highest in the North West (25.2%) and lowest in the South East (18.9%). The North East had the highest rate of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance at 6.3% followed by Yorkshire and The Humber (5.2%) and the West Midlands (4.9%). The lowest rate was in the South East at 2.3%. then the South West at 2.5% and the East of England at 3.1%.

At local authority level South Northamptonshire had the highest employment rate at 88.9% then Watford (86.1%) and Brentwood (85.8%). The lowest rates were Middlesbrough at 57% followed by Birmingham (57.5%) and Nottingham (57.8%). The highest unemployment rate were in Birmingham (16.5%), Blaenau Gwent (15.7%) and Middlesbrough (15.4%). The lowest unemployment rates were in South Lakeland (2.7%) and Eden (2.8%).

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.

Slight Fall In Unemployment

The unemployment rate for June to August was 7.9% down 0.2% compared with March to May 2012. There were 2.53m unemployed down 50,000 on March to May. The employment rate for June to August was 71.3% up 0.5% on March to May with 29.59m people in work, up 212,000 on March to May and 510,000 on last year. The number of people in full-time work increased by 88,000 between March/May and June/August and part-time work by 125,000 but between June/August 2007 and June/August 2012 the number of people in full-time employment has fallen by 355,000 and the number of people in part-time employment has increased by 724,000. The number of unemployed people fell by 50,000 between March/May and June/August 2012 but increased by 883,000 between June/August 2007 and June/August 2012. The inactivity rate was down. There were 9.04m (22.5%) economically inactive people in June to August, down 138,000 on March to May and 314,000 on last year. There were 476,000 job vacancies for July to September 2012, up 3,000. There were 1.8 vacancies per 100 employee jobs. The largest increase in jobs between March and June 2012 was in the professional, scientific and technical sector with an increase of 87,000. The largest fall in jobs was recorded in the human health and social work sector with a decrease of 60,000 jobs. There pay rises in the June to August period. Total pay increased by 1.7% and regular pay increased by 2% on last year. Average total pay in August was £473/week and average regular pay was £444/week. The unemployment rate was highest in the North East with 9.9%. It was lowest in the South West with 5.8%. The largest decreases in the unemployment rate were in the North West with 1.1% and the North East with 0.9%. The highest employment rate was in the East of England with 74.6% followed by the South West (74.6%) and the South East (74.4%) and lowest in the North East with 67.9%. The inactivity rate was also highest in the North East with 24.6% and it was lowest in the East of England with 19.9%. The North East also had the highest Claimant Count with 7.7%. The lowest Claimant Count was in the South East with 3%.

Unemployment Rate Down 0.2%

The unemployment rate fell by 0.2% to 8.1% over the three months from March to May 2012. Unemployment fell to 9.21m down by 65,000. The inactivity rate among those aged 16-64 was 22.9%.

Total pay rose by 1.5% on last year in the economy as a whole and regular pay rose by 1.8%.

Unemployment Highest Since 1990s

The latest labout market statistics from the ONS show that the unemployment rate was 8.1% and the employment rate was 70.4%. Inactivity was 23.3%. The total number of unemployed people reached 2.57m, the highest since October 1994. The unemployment rate for people aged 16-24 reached 21.3%, the highest since records began in 1992.

Unemployment At 7.7%

Headline indicators for the labour market released by the ONS include the unemployment rate of 7.7% and unemployment level at 2.45m people. The employment rate was 70.7% or 29.16m and the inactivity rate was 23.2% and the level of inactivity went up to 9.3m. Average regular pay for June to August increased by 2% and total pay by 1.7%.

The bulletin also included that there were 459,000 vacancies and that the vacancy ratio was 1.7. There were 30.8m workforce jobs. The average weekly hours worked in the three months to August was 31.6 and the total hours worked was 918.8m.

Long-term Unemployment At Record Levels

The employment rate according to the latest ststistics from the ONS is 72.1% equivalent to 28.86m employed people. Full-time worker numbers were down 56,000 over the quarter, but part-time work increased 61,000. 1.08m people were working part-time because they couldn't find a job (highest since 1992).

The unemployment rate was up 0.1% over the quarter to 7.9% leaving 2.47m people unemployed up 23,000 The were 1.48m on Jobseeker's Alowance. The long-term unemployed increased by 85,000 to reach 772,000, the highest figure since April 1997. The number of people unemployed for up to six months fell by 42,000 to 1.17m.

There were 30.75m workforce jobs in December 2009, down 533,000 on a year earlier. There were 5.2 unemployed people for every vacancy. The number of vacancies for May 2010 was 492,000 an increase of 7,000. All industry sector showed some form of movement over the quarter. In all 173,000 employees were made redundant, down 137,00 on last year in 3 months to April, that is 7/1000 employees.

The inactivity rate went up to 21.5%, an increase of 29,000 to 8.19m, a record high. Working age inactive people, including students and the long-term sick, increased by 58,000 to 2.07m. Total hours worked per week were 907.3m in three months to April. Average weekly hours 31.5, unchanged.

The annual growth rate for pay was 4.2% for three months to April from 4.3% in March. Annual regular pay growth was 1.9% for three months to April from 2% in March. Regular pay rose by 1.9%. Average weekly earnings including bonuses was £455/week in April 2010, a rise of 4.2% over the three months. Average weekly wage excluding bonuses was £428. In the private sector including bonuses was £450 up 4.5%, excluding bonuses £419. In the public sector including bonuses £463, up 4.2% over the year, excluding bonuses £458 up 3.7%.

Output per worker was 1.4% lower than in Q4 2009 on the year. Unit wage costs were up 2.4%. 5 stoppages cost 2000 working days lost in April. Over year to April 98 stoppages cost 713,000 lost working days.

Unemployment Rises Again

The numbers of unemployed, the unemployment rate and the claimant count have increased. The number of vacancies has fallen along with the growth in average earnings and the number of inactive people of working age.

The unemployment rate was 7.1% in the three months to March 2009 an increase of 0.8% on previous three months and 1.8% on the year. The number of unemployed is 2.22 million an increase of 244,000 on the quarter and 592,000 on the year. The number of claimants in April was 1.51 million with an increase of 57,100 over the quarter and 710,700 on the year. The economic inactivity rate for working age people for March was 20.7%, a 0.1% decrease on the previous month and 0.2% on the year. The number of people inactive was 7.83million in the three months to March, 29,000 fewer than 3 months ago and 48,000 less than a year ago. Vacancies have fallen by 51,000 to 455,000 in the three months to April and by 232,000 on the year. There were 1.7 vacancies for every 100 employee jobs. Redundancies have risen by 27,000 on previous quarter and by 175,000 on the year to 286,000. Average earnings were lower by 0.2% in terms of annual growth in quarter to March at 3.0%.

The employment rate for working age people was 73.6% and the number of employed people 29.2million. Manufacturing has suffered with the lowest figures since records began in 1978 at 2.73 million, 160,000 fewer than last year. Productivity decreased by 8% and unit wage costs increased by 9.8% over the year and 3000 days were lost from 13 stoppages.

These figures compare well with other European countries. OECD statistics show France had 8.8% unemployment, Belgium 7.3%, Germany 7.6% and Finland 7.4%.