Government announces rise in employment figures

Wednesday, 14 May 2003 12:00 AM

Government statistics out today show that there has been a rise in the number of people in employment over the last quarter.

According to the latest figures, there are 283,000 more people in work than a year ago, whilst unemployment remains broadly flat, though falling slightly in the last month.

Nearly 28million people are now in work, which corresponds to roughly 75% of the working population, one of the highest levels since records began in 1984.

The Minister for Work, Nick Brown, welcomed the figures, saying: 'The latest picture shows that the UK labour market continues to improve."

'Vacancies remain at high levels. There are over 10,000 new jobs notified to Jobcentres every working day and we know that many more are available from other sources. This demonstrates the dynamic nature of the UK labour market."

Despite such confidence, opposition politicians have accused the Government of "turning a blind eye" to the recent scale of job losses in British manufacturing and agriculture.

According to Liberal Democrat spokesman Paul Holmes, today's figures from the Office of National Statistics show that in the last year 155,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing industry, with 52,000 lost in the agriculture and fishing industry.

'The Government has failed to use the strong period of growth in recent years to deal with the lack of competitiveness caused by the overvaluation of the pound. And they have failed to correct the imbalance between regional economies', Mr Holmes said.

'Ministers must get to grips with the real economy of our towns and rural areas. Small scale factory closures have as detrimental an effect on the local community as the high-profile collapses that make news headlines.'

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