16 April 2004 - Labour market goes from strength to strength – Smith
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Andrew Smith, today welcomed figures confirming the strength of the UK labour market: more people in work, a further fall in unemployment and more job vacancies than a year ago.
He said: “The labour market continues to improve month after month. The number of people in work has reached a new record high, up by more than 300 thousand over the last year. With nearly three quarters of working age people in work, the UK has the best performing labour market of the major world economies.”
The latest labour market statistics show the growth in employment continues. In December-February 2004 there were 183 thousand more people in work than in the previous quarter and 318 thousand more than a year ago. There are now 28.33 million people in work in the UK, the highest figure ever recorded. The employment rate is 74.9 per cent, up from 74.6 per cent a year ago.
“Unemployment is at its lowest for nearly thirty years and is continuing to fall. A stable economy encourages new firms to set up and others to invest and grow. This means there are thousands of new job opportunities coming up every day, enabling more people to realise their ambition of returning to work,” Andrew Smith continued.
“The UK has weathered the recent global economic slowdown without a rise in unemployment. Our success in keeping unemployment low means the employment demands of a growing economy will increasingly be met from other sources, such as the economically inactive. The level of inactivity is falling, but there is more to do. The development of Jobcentre Plus represents the first concerted effort by any government to provide active support to all benefit claimants of working age to help them return to work.”
The internationally recognised ILO measure of unemployment fell by 33 thousand this quarter, to 1.43 million. The number of unemployed claimants is 882,200, down 4,200 in March. Both these figures are the lowest since 1975.
Notes to editors
BACKGROUND TO LABOUR MARKET STATISTICS: APRIL 2004
Employment is growing and unemployment is falling. Vacancies are high and rising and redundancies are low and falling
This month’s Labour Force Survey covers December to February 2004. The claimant unemployment count date was 11th March and the vacancy count date was 5th March.
In December to February 2004, employment rose by 183 thousand on the previous quarter and 318 thousand on the year. ILO unemployment was down in the latest quarter and on the year. Claimant unemployment was down in the latest month and on the year.The labour market is in a strong position
- There were 28.330 million people in work in December to February, a new record high.
- The LFS employment rate is 74.9%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter. This is one of the highest rates on record.
- On both measures, recent unemployment rates are the best since 1975.
- Both the ONS and Jobcentre Plus series show a rise in vacancies over the last year.
- Over the last year the redundancy rate per thousand employees shows a fall of 1.8 to 5.7 per thousand employees. This is the lowest figure recorded since the current series began in 1995.
Employment is growing and the trend in unemployment is down
- There has been sustained growth in employment: up by 183 thousand in the last three months and 318 thousand over the last year.
- The level of ILO unemployment in December to February was 1.43 million, down 33 thousand in the last three months and 76 thousand on this time last year. The ILO unemployment rate has fallen from 4.9% to 4.8% this quarter and is 0.3 percentage points lower than a year ago.
- The latest claimant count figures show 882.2 thousand claimants in March 2004, a fall of 4.2 thousand on the month. The level of claimant unemployment has fallen by an average of 7.8 thousand a month over the last three months. The claimant unemployment rate, at 2.9%, is down 0.2 percentage points over the last year.
- The proportion of the population who are economically inactive – those who do not have a job but are not actively seeking or available for work – is 21.2%, down 0.1 percentage point over the last year.
The number of vacancies remains high
- ONS’s vacancy survey estimates there were 591.5 thousand unfilled vacancies in the quarter to March 2004, up 31.1 thousand (5.5%) on the same period last year.
- Information on the new vacancies reported to Jobcentres each month is available on Nomis (http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/). Jobcentre vacancies in March 2004 were 293,539 compared to 239,904 in the same month in 2003. This increase may partly reflect the success of Jobcentre Plus in attracting vacancies from employers.
- More than 10,000 new vacancies are placed at Jobcentres every working day. Evidence suggests up to twice this number come up through other recruitment channels.
Earnings growth in the year to February was 4.9%, up 0.2 points from January.
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