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UK unemployment falls for second month in a row

17 - 02 - 2010

The number of people unemployed in the UK has fallen slightly, figures show.

Total unemployment stood at 2.46 million for the three months to December, down 3,000 on the figure for the previous three months.

The rate of unemployment was unchanged at 7.8%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

However, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance rose by 23,500 to 1.64 million in January, the largest increase since July last year.

Analysts had expected the number of claimants to fall by about 10,000.

‘Tough times’

This is the second consecutive month that the wider measure of unemployment has fallen.

The public sector is expected to suffer big cuts later this year as whichever party forms the next government will need to begin the process of reducing the UK’s £178bn budget deficit.

This could spark a second round of rising unemployment.

Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We know things are going to be tough for a while and we expect further increases in unemployment before the summer.

“That’s why it’s so important to increase help for people now, not cut it back.”

She added that unemployment had been much lower than expected last year, partly because employees had been prepared to take pay cuts to stay in work.

The ONS figures showed that the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work fell over the three-month period between October and December, down to 923,000 from 936,000 in the previous three months.

Temporary workers

Long-term unemployment, which covers those out of work for more than a year, increased by 37,000 in the quarter to December to 663,000, the highest figure since 1997.

Meanwhile, the number of workers in temporary jobs climbed to 1.434 million, up from 1.427 million in the previous three months.

The report also said 34.6% of people working on a temporary basis had said they had failed to find permanent work. This figure was up from 32.8%.

The number of men who said they had been forced to take temporary work rose by 9.2% from the previous quarter.

The percentage of people neither employed nor looking for work, and who are not counted as unemployed by the ONS, rose to 21.3%.

This group includes students, long-term sick or disabled people, the temporarily sick or injured, and people who have retired early or are looking after their family and home.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May welcomed the fall in the headline unemployment figure, but said she was concerned by some underlying trends.

‘Dreaded landmark’

She said: “We see the number of people who are long-term unemployed has gone up. And this is against a background where we know that there are 2.8 million people who are under-employed – people who want to be able to work longer hours and perhaps have had to take part-time work because they can’t get full-time work.

“So I think this is a worrying picture and shows that we must make sure we do not damage recovery and that means government must have a credible plan to deal with the deficit.”

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Webb said that cutting spending now was not the right approach.

“Record numbers of people out of work for more than a year is the government’s dreaded landmark,” he said.

“These people will be the hardest to help back into work when the economy recovers and risk never coming off benefits.”

The ONS data indicated that wage growth remained subdued – rising by an average of 0.8% in the three months to December compared with a year ago.

Excluding bonuses, average weekly earnings rose by 1.2% for a third month running.

This rate is the lowest since the data began being collected in 2001.

Source: BBC News

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