Employment begins to fall
The employment rate is beginning to fall but unemployment is roughly unchanged, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Working-age employment fell “quite substantially” over the quarter to June 2005 (down 0.3 percentage points), although it remained unchanged at 74.7 per cent year on year.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Malcolm Rifkind seized on the figures as an indication of the failure of government policies to tackle unemployment.
He highlighted in particular the reduction in the average hours worked (down 0.2 hours to 32 per week), the increase in long term unemployed (3,000 over the year) and the five consecutive increases in the claimant count – although the ONS notes that the overall change in the latter category remains small.
In addition, he noted the figures on graduate unemployment, which stands at an average of seven per cent but varies from three per cent or less for those with medical degrees to as much as 11 per cent among those who studied the creative arts and design.
“Today’s figures make very depressing reading indeed. High numbers of our young people leave education today and cannot find a job. This is simply a waste of the vast talent we have in this country,” Mr Rifkind said.
“We always knew that Labour’s election claim to have created low unemployment was false. It started falling years before they took office. Now those claims are unravelling and the failure of their policies is there for all to see.”
More than 28 million people are now in employment in the UK, with a record number of women in work since comparable records began in 1992 (12.097 million).
The number of economically active people of working age is up 125,000 on the previous quarter, with a record number of men working. The redundancy rate is the lowest since 1992.
The ONS records an overall “strong but steady earnings growth”, with the average graduate salary standing at £17,000, as it was in the previous year.
To read the labour market analysis and summary report for August 2005 click here .
