16 June 2004 - Employment at record levels - Kennedy
Minister of State for Work and Pensions, Jane Kennedy, today welcomed figures showing more people in work, falling unemployment and high levels of vacancies.She said: “The number of people in work in the UK is at record levels, up a quarter of million in the last twelve months and 1.9 million over the last seven years.”
The latest labour market statistics show continuing growth in employment. In February-April 2004 there were 30 thousand more people in work than in the previous three months and 246 thousand more than a year ago.
There are now 28.3 million people in work in the UK and the employment rate is 74.8 per cent, up from 74.6 per cent a year ago.
“Unemployment is the lowest for about thirty years and continues to fall. There has been a major improvement in long-term unemployment, which is a quarter of the level it was seven years ago,” Jane Kennedy continued.
The internationally recognised ILO measure of unemployment is down by 9 thousand this quarter and by 77 thousand over the last year, to 1.43 million. The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance is 862,000, down 12,000 in May and down 86,500 compared to this time last year. These figures are the lowest since 1975.
“This has been made possible by our economic success combined with policies such as the New Deal that have given new opportunities to those who find it difficult to get back to work. With long-term unemployment at its lowest for three decades, we are building on the success of New Deal, focusing resources on the hardest to help and using local solutions to deal with local problems,” Jane Kennedy said.
Notes for editors
Background to labour market statistics: June 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 February to April 2004. The claimant unemployment count date was 13th May and the vacancy count date was 7th May.
In February to April 2004, employment rose by 30 thousand on the previous quarter and 246 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
- Employment is at record levels - 28.302 million people in work in February to April.
- The LFS employment rate is 74.8%, unchanged 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 30 thousand in the last three months and 246 thousand over the last year.
- The level of ILO unemployment in February to April was 1.43 million, down 9 thousand in the last three months and 77 thousand on this time last year. The ILO unemployment rate remains unchanged from the previous quarter at 4.8% but is 0.3 percentage points lower than a year ago.
- The latest claimant count figures show 862.0 thousand claimants in May 2004, a fall of 12 thousand on the month. The level of claimant unemployment has fallen by an average of 8.1 thousand a month over the last three months. The claimant unemployment rate, at 2.8%, is down 0.3 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 21.4%, up 0.1 percentage points over the last year.
The number of vacancies remains high
- ONS’s vacancy survey estimates there were 631.0 thousand unfilled vacancies in the quarter to May 2004, up 48.3 thousand (8.3%) 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 May 2004 were 275,742 compared to 237,794 in the same month in 2003.
- 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 April was 4.3%, down 0.9 points from March.
- Excluding the effect of bonuses, average earnings growth was 4.1%, up 0.2 points from March.
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