Employment Rate falls to 72.5 per cent

The employment rate for July to September 2009 was 72.5 per cent, a fall of 0.1 percentage point on the quarter. There was a small increase of 6,000 in the number of people in employment to 28.93 million, the first quarterly increase since May-July 2008.
Full-time employment fell by 80,000, to reach 21.26 million, while part-time employment increased by 86,000 to reach a record high of 7.66 million. There were 997,000 employees and self-employed people working part-time because they did not find a full-time job. This is the highest figure since records for this series began in 1992 and is up 30,000 on the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 7.8 per cent for July to September 2009. The number of unemployed people increased by 30,000 over the quarter to reach 2.46 million. These are the smallest quarterly increases in unemployment since March-May 2008. The number of people unemployed for up to six months fell by 99,000 on the quarter to reach 1.31 million. The number of people unemployed for more than 12 months increased by 71,000 over the quarter to reach 618,000, the highest figure since the three months to November 1997. The unemployment rate for 18 to 24 year olds increased by 0.7 percentage points on the quarter to reach 18.0 per cent, the highest figure since records for this series began in 1992.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (the claimant count) in October 2009 increased by 12,900 on the month to reach 1.64 million, the highest number of claimants since April 1997. This is the smallest monthly increase in the claimant count since April 2008.

The number of vacancies in the three months to October 2009 was 428,000, the lowest figure since records for this series began in 2001. However, it was only 1,000 lower than the figure for the previous quarter and it is the smallest monthly fall since the three months to April 2008.

Average earnings, excluding bonuses, for July to September 2009 were 1.8 per cent higher than a year previously. This is the lowest annual growth rate since records for this series began in 2001. The annual growth rate, excluding bonuses, for the public sector was 2.8 per cent, while the corresponding figure for the private sector was 1.5 per cent.

Source: Office for National Statistics

Notes:
People in employment, unemployed and economically inactive make up the total household population aged 16 and over, measured through the Labour Force Survey on a consistent basis since 1971.

Unemployment