There has been a fall in both the number of people in employment and the employment rate. The number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the claimant count have all increased. The number of inactive people of working age has increased but the inactivity rate is unchanged. The number of vacancies has fallen. Growth in average earnings excluding bonuses is unchanged but earnings growth including bonuses has fallen.
The employment rate for people of working age was 74.4 per cent for the three months to September 2008, down 0.4 from the previous quarter and down 0.2 over the year. The number of people in employment for the three months to September 2008 was 29.41 million, down 99,000 over the quarter but up 134,000 over the year.
Although employment has fallen over the quarter, total hours worked increased by 0.9 million to reach 940.9 million. This reflects an increase in average hours worked per week.
The unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent for the three months to September 2008, up 0.4 over the previous quarter and up 0.5 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 140,000 over the quarter and by 182,000 over the year, to reach 1.82 million. The last time the number of unemployed people was higher was in the three months to December 1997 (when it was 1.87 million).
The claimant count was 980,900 in October 2008, up 36,500 over the previous month and up 154,800 over the year. The last time the claimant count was higher was in March 2001 (when it was 990,900).
The redundancy level for the three months to September 2008 was 156,000, up 29,000 over the quarter and up 27,000 over the year.
The inactivity rate for people of working age was 20.9 per cent for the three months to September 2008, unchanged over the previous quarter but down 0.2 over the year. The number of economically inactive people of working age increased by 15,000 over the quarter but fell by 54,000 over the year to reach 7.89 million.
The annual rate of growth in average earnings excluding bonuses was 3.6 per cent in the three months to September 2008, unchanged from the three months to August. Including bonuses, it was 3.3 per cent, down 0.1 from the three months to August.
There were 589,000 job vacancies in the three months to October 2008, down 40,000 over the previous quarter and down 83,000 over the year. The largest falls over the quarter occurred in distribution, hotels and restaurants (down 16,000) and finance and business services (down 10,000).
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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Labour Market Statistics First Release