By Richard Johnstone | 18 March 2014
The number of people employed in the public sector fell by 159,000 to 5.5 million in the last three months of 2013 following the reclassification of the Royal Mail after privatisation, the Office for National Statistics has announced.
In its latest Labour Statistics report, the ONS said the public sector accounted for 18.2% of total employment at the end of 2013. The largest number was in the NHS, where 1.6 million people were employed, followed by education (1.5 million) and public administration jobs in central and local government (1.1 million).
If the transfer of Royal Mail staff – which took place last October after the firm’s controversial sell-off – was excluded, the number of public sector workers still fell by 13,000 over the quarter and 14,000 on the year previously. The largest fall was in the public administration roles, which also includes civil service posts, which were down 11,000 on the quarter. The number of people working in the National Health Service rose over the three-month period by 13,000 as trusts implemented plans to increase staff numbers.
Today’s ONS report also included the latest unemployment figures. The number of people out of work stood at 2.3 million over the three months from November 2013 to January 2014, down 63,000 from the previous three months, and down 191,000 from the same period a year earlier. The unemployment rate was now 7.2%, down from 7.4% for August to October 2013. However, this was the same proportion as last month’s figures, which covered the three months to the end of 2013.
The number of people in employment was also up over the three months to the end of January by 105,000 to nearly 30.2 million.
Employment minister Esther McVey welcomed the rise in the number of people in work.
‘We now have the highest employment rate for five years, which shows that the growing economy is helping record numbers of people to find a job, turn their lives around and have the security of a regular wage.
‘The rise in employment is being fuelled by businesses and entrepreneurs across the country who are feeling increasingly confident with the improving economy. They should be congratulated for creating over 1.7 million private sector jobs since 2010 – that’s over 1,000 more people in private sector jobs every day.’
Ian Brinkley, chief economist at the Work Foundation, said the figures showed that forecasts that unemployment will fall towards 6% by the end of 2015 were entirely plausible.
However, the challenge remains to translate growth into improved productivity and higher pay alongside more jobs, he added.
