UK unemployment falls

Unemployment in the UK has fallen by 9,000, but the number of people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job has reached a record high, new figures showed yesterday.

Around 1.15 million people had part-time jobs or were self employed after failing to find a full-time position, an increase of 67,000 over the quarter to September and the highest total since records began in 1992.

Part-timers increased by 94,000 to 18.17 million, while self-employment rose by 112,000 to a record high of 4.03 million.

Unemployment fell to 2.45 million, although the number of people out of work for longer than a year jumped by 20,000 to 817,000 and there was a similar rise in those out of a job for over six months.

The numbers claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 3,700 last month to 1.47 million, the first monthly fall since July. The Office for National Statistics said it was the first time the so-called claimant count and the wider measure of unemployment had fallen together since the summer.

There was also a fall in the number of people classed as economically inactive, including those looking after a sick relative or having given up looking for work. The figure was 83,000 down over the latest quarter to 9.27 million.

There was a 167,000 rise in employment to 29.19 million, including a 94,000 rise in part-timers.

The number of full-time workers fell by 62,000 to reach 18.17 million, while part-time employment was almost eight million, up by 142,000 from the quarter to June.

Of this total, two million were men and almost six million were women.

Public sector employment, which is set to be hit by the government’s spending cuts, was down by 22,000 to 6.05 million, while employment in private firms increased by 308,000 to 23.11 million.

Job vacancies fell by 27,000 to 453,000 in the three months to October, with education showing the biggest drop.

Average earnings increased by two per cent in the year to September, up by 0.3 per cent from the previous month, leaving average pay, including bonuses, at £453 a week.

There were 11,000 working days lost through industrial disputes in September, the highest monthly total since May.

Other figures showed that the number of unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds fell by 12,000 to 712,000, while the figure for 16 to 24-year-olds was 21,000 lower at 899,000, a jobless rate of 19 per cent.

The Department for Work and Pensions said that while the number of people in employment has risen by nearly 300,000 over the last year, around two thirds of this was down to rising employment among people who were not born in the UK.

New benefit figures out today showed that there were still around five million people claiming out of work benefits, underlining the need for “root and branch reform” of the welfare system, said the department.