13 October 2004 - Labour Market policies are building on success - Kennedy
Minister for Work, Jane Kennedy, today welcomed new statistics showing the continued strength of the UK labour market. She said:
“There are over two hundred thousand more people in work than this time last year. With the success of the economy and growing employment, more people have moved from welfare into work. The number of people on incapacity benefits has peaked. There are fewer unemployed people and fewer lone parents on benefit.”
In the latest quarter the number of people in work in the UK was 28.4 million, up 221 thousand on a year ago. Over the same period the number of people unemployed on the ILO definition fell by 105 thousand, to 1.39 million. In the year to September 2004, the number unemployed and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 95 thousand to 834 thousand. Both these figures are the lowest since 1975.
Jane Kennedy continued: “Our aim now is to build on this success by extending employment opportunity to all. Jobcentre Plus, together with programmes like the New Deal, have contributed to historically low levels of unemployment and are increasingly making a difference for other people on benefits.”
“Six years after the introduction of the New Deal for Lone Parents, the proportion in work is higher than ever before, at 54 per cent. But we want to go further: we are now testing a range of measures to encourage more lone parents to actively seek work; to ensure when they take up work they are better off; and to ensure they have access to the childcare they need.”
Notes for editors
Background to Labour Market statistics: October 2004
Compared to this time last year there are more people in work and unemployment has fallen. Redundancies are at a historically low level and the number of vacancies continues to grow.
This month’s Labour Force Survey covers June-August 2004. The claimant unemployment count date was 9th September and the vacancy count date was 3rd September.
In June to August 2004, employment rose by 10 thousand on the previous quarter and 221 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 28.392 million people in work in June to August 2004.
- The LFS employment rate is 74.7%, one of the highest figures 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 0.7 to 5.6 per thousand employees. This is one of the lowest figures on record.
Employment is up on the year and unemployment is down
- Employment is up by 221 thousand over the last year and the employment rate has increased by 0.1 percentage points.
- ILO unemployment in June to August was 1.39 million, down 51 thousand in the last three months and 105 thousand on this time last year. The ILO unemployment rate is 4.7%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 0.4 percentage points on the same period a year ago.
- The latest claimant count figures show 834 thousand claimants in September 2004, a fall of 200 on the month. The claimant unemployment rate, at 2.7%, is down 0.3 percentage points over the last year.
- The proportion of the population who are economically inactive – not in work and not actively seeking or available for work – is 21.6%, up 0.2 points over the last year. This reflects continued growth in the number of students, who are disproportionately classified as economically inactive.
- The position for inactive people on benefits is improving. The number of lone parents on benefit in May 2004 was 788 thousand, down 38 thousand over the year. The number of people claiming incapacity benefits was 2.7 million, down 4 thousand over the last year.
The number of vacancies remains high
- ONS’s vacancy survey estimates there were 662.8 thousand unfilled vacancies in the quarter to September 2004, up 55.7 thousand (9.2%) 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 September 2004 were 307,230 compared to 303,299 in the same month in 2003. More than 10,000 new vacancies are placed at Jobcentres every working day. Evidence suggests at least as many again come up through other recruitment channels.
Earnings growth in the year to August was 3.9%, unchanged from July.
- Excluding the effect of bonuses, average earnings growth was 4.3%, up 0.1 percentage points from July.
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