(ONS Press Release) – For January to March 2012:
• The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 70.5 per cent, up 0.2 on the quarter. There were 29.23 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 105,000 on the quarter. The quarterly increase in employment was entirely due to more part-time workers.
• The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.2 on the quarter. There were 2.63 million unemployed people, down 45,000 on the quarter.
• The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 23.0 per cent, down 0.1 on the quarter. There were 9.25 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 35,000 on the quarter.
Source:
Surprise fall in UK unemployment writes the Financial Times.
A surprise drop in unemployment has given Britain a glimmer of hope in the face of chill winds from the eurozone, but analysts warned the jobless total may have further to rise unless the economy recovers faster.
via Surprise fall in UK unemployment – FT.com.
BBC’s Report
Employment Minister Chris Grayling said overall the figures were a “welcome step in the right direction”.
“For a number of months now, employment has been growing and this is starting to feed through into improving unemployment figures.
“However, we still face significant international uncertainty so we need to hold firm on our current economic strategy and continue to do everything we can to ensure unemployment continues to fall.”
Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King also said that the latest figures were consistent with a gradual recovery in the UK economy, while pointing to the huge risk to the UK economy posed by the crisis in the eurozone, the UK’s biggest trading partner.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne said it was “really worrying to see the soaring long term costs as the number of long term unemployed surges towards the 1 million mark – the highest since the Tories were in Government last time”.
Source: bbc.co.uk
Job Market Monitor 
Discussion
No comments yet.