14/08/2010 August labour market stats shows a rise in employment and a fall in overall unemployment... but long-term unemployment has increased again

This month's Labour Force Survey covers April to June 2010 and shows that the number of people in work has risen to 184,000 in the three months to July to reach 29.02 million, a rise of 0.3 percentage points to 70.5 per cent. The good news is that the rise in the employment rate is the largest quarterly increase in the number of people in employment since 1989. However, this rise is largely borne out of an increase in the number of part-time workers, which has increased by 115,000 to reach 7.84 million. What is more, the pay growth rate has decreased significantly; total pay growth rate (including bonuses) was 1.3 per cent for the three months to June, which is down from growth of 2.7 per cent for the three months to May. For the second month in a row unemployment has fallen and is down 0.2 per cent to 7.8 per cent. The JSA claimant count fell by 3,800 to reach 1.46 million - but, long term unemployment has risen by 33,000 during the quarter to reach 796,000 - taking it to the highest level since March 1997.

The number of economic inactive people among the working age population fell by 49,000 to 9.35 million, a drop of 0.2 percentage points to 23.4 per cent during the quarter to June 2010.

For more information visit: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2010/aug-2010/dwp106-10-110810.shtml