UK unemployment nudges higher

Thursday 16th February 2012

UK unemployment rose by 48,000 to 2.67 million in the three months to December, according to official figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The unemployment rate was 8.4%, the highest for 16 years said the ONS. Despite the continued rise in unemployment, the proportion of the workforce in paid work also rose and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said that, despite continuing economic challenges, the labour market is stabilising.

According to the DWP, 60,000 more people are now in employment than in the previous quarter. This takes the total number in employment to 29.13 million, a rise of over a quarter of a million in the last 18 months.

The latest figures also show that there are more jobs in the economy. With 476,000 vacancies available at any one time, this is a rise of 11,000 on the three months to October 2011.

The number claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) rose 6,900 in January 2012, to 1.6 million. The underlying trend in the claimant count looks close to flat, said the DWP, with more people flowing off JSA in the last month than flowing on.

Commenting on the unemployment data, David Birne, insolvency partner at chartered accountants HW Fisher & Company, said: "Unemployment rose less than many had expected during the fourth quarter but it continues to climb.

"The slow but sure rise in the unemployment rate reflects the slow but sure decline of the economy. 2012 will see the unemployment rate continue to rise, as the public sector job cuts feed through.”

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