Fall in unemployment masks ‘underlying weaknesses’

16 May 12
UK unemployment fell by 45,000 over the first three months of the year to 8.2%, according to official statistics.
By Vivienne Russell | 16 May 2012

UK unemployment fell by 45,000 over the first three months of the year to 8.2%, according to official statistics.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said the figures, published today, were a ‘welcome step in the right direction’. He added that the government needed to ‘hold firm on our current economic strategy and continue to do everything we can to ensure unemployment continues to fall’.

However, the number of people out of work for a year or more grew by 27,000 to 887,000 – the highest since the three months to September 1996. A total of 2.63 million people were unemployed
at the end of March.

There was also an improvement in the employment rate over the quarter, with 105,000 more people returning to work.

However, much of this increase came from a boost in part-time work. The number of full-time workers fell by 13,000 while 118,000 people took on part-time work. There are now 7.99 million part-time workers, the highest since comparable records began in 1992.

Youth unemployment improved slightly, with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds seeking work after leaving full-time education down 24,000 on the quarter.

Ian Brinkley, director at the Work Foundation, said the figures were surprising but very welcome.

‘Claims that further deregulation of the labour market is needed to stimulate job generation look to be unjustified. Private sector employers clearly felt confident enough to hire in large numbers over the three months to March 2012,’ he said.

‘However, the overall numbers disguise some underlying weaknesses. The economy is still shedding full-time jobs, with all the increase accounted for by part-time work. The latest figures confirm that underemployment is emerging as a significant problem in the UK labour market, with the number of people in part-time work because they could not find a full-time job up by 33% over the past two years.’

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