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Updated June 2008
The trend in the employment rate is increasing, the trend in the unemployment rate is flat and the trend in the inactivity rate is falling. There has been another increase in the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance benefit. The number of job vacancies has increased slightly. Growth in average earnings, excluding bonuses, has increased, but earnings growth including bonuses has fallen.
The employment rate for people of working age was 74.9 per cent for the three months to April 2008, unchanged from the previous quarter but up 0.5 over the year. The number of people in employment for the three months to April 2008 was 29.55 million. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1971 and is up 76,000 over the quarter and up 446,000 over the year. Total hours worked has increased by 6.3 million to reach 943.7 million.
The unemployment rate was 5.3 per cent for the three months to April 2008, up 0.1 over the previous quarter but down 0.2 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 38,000 over the quarter but fell by 34,000 over the year, to reach 1.64 million.
The number of workforce jobs in March 2008 was 31.67 million, up 44,000 on the quarter and up 237,000 over the year. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1959.
The claimant count was 819,300 in May 2008, up 9,000 over the previous month but down 58,100 over the year. The Claimant Count has increased for the last four months.
The inactivity rate for people of working age was 20.8 per cent for the three months to April 2008, down 0.1 over the previous quarter and down 0.4 over the year. The number of economically inactive people of working age decreased by 23,000 over the quarter and by 107,000 over the year to reach 7.86 million.
The annual rate of growth in average earnings (the AEI), excluding bonuses, was 3.9 per cent in April 2008, up 0.1 from the previous month. Including bonuses, it was 3.8 per cent, down 0.2 from the previous month.
There were 678,600 job vacancies for the three months to May 2008, up 100 over the previous quarter and up 35,200 over the year.
The redundancy rate for the three months to April 2008 was 4.3 per 1,000 employees. This is down 0.1 over the quarter and down 0.8 over the year.
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.
Working age is defined as 16-64 for men and 16-59 for women.
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