11 February 2009 – Together Government and Business can keep Britain working

Some of the UK’s leading employers today pledged their support to get people back in work at the first meeting of the National Employment Partnership (NEP), hosted by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell.   

With figures out today showing a rise in unemployment, it is crucial for Government and business to work together to give people looking for work the help they need to take up the more than half a million vacancies employers are looking to fill.

In the first meeting of the NEP, Government has asked members to pledge to:

• Advertise their non-specialist vacancies through Jobcentre Plus;
• Fill more of the jobs they create through the already successful Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) and other new measures, including the recruitment subsidies for those unemployed over 6 months, with government aiming to get 200,000 people into work through LEPs this year;
• Encourage employers they work with and their supply chains to recruit from a broader field by placing more of their vacancies with Jobcentre Plus; and  take advantage of the skills support available, including through Train to Gain;
• Continue to offer advice on helping people facing redundancy and the newly unemployed back in to work as soon as possible through the skills system;
• Promote the development of the skills Britain needs for the recovery, including increasing the availability of Apprenticeships, taking up Government subsidies for the lower skilled and sustaining employer investment in workforce skills.

The Government also set out an aim to get an additional 200,000 people into work through the LEP scheme over the next year.

James Purnell said:

"We know times are tough and we need to continue doing all we can to support people who lose their jobs find another as quickly as possible, preventing the long term unemployment which has so scarred communities in the past from taking root.

“The Prime Minister and I are meeting key national employers today to plan what more we can do to help people back to work and into apprenticeships, including advertising more vacancies through Jobcentre Plus. 

“Businesses are already helping thousands of people into work through our LEP scheme and today we will be committing to helping a further 200,000 more into jobs over the next year."

The labour market figures, published today, show that unemployment in the UK has risen by 146,000 on the last quarter to 1.97m, and the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has risen by 73,800 over the last month. However, figures also show there are just over half a million vacancies across the country and employment levels, at 29.36m, remain high.

Employment Minister, Tony McNulty said:

Today’s figures are disappointing but we will not stop giving people help and support to get back into work as quickly as we can. The pledge today by NEP members is another demonstration of how government and business working together can make a difference.”

The Labour Market Statistics are published today by the UK Statistics Authority and can be found at www.statistics.gov.uk

Background to labour market statistics: February 2009

This month’s labour force survey covers October to December 2008.  The claimant unemployment and Jobcentre Plus vacancy count dates were 8th January and 2nd January respectively.

The number of people in work fell this quarter but remains historically high

• 29.4 million people were in work in October to December.
• employment fell by 45 thousand on the quarter and is down 37 thousand on the year
• the employment rate is 74.1%, down 0.3 percentage points on the quarter and down 0.7 percentage points on the year

The number of people claiming JSA has risen this month

• claimant unemployment was 1,233 thousand in January 2009, up 73.8 thousand on the month, and up 438.1 thousand on the year. 
• the claimant unemployment rate, at 3.8%, is up 0.2 percentage points this month and up 1.4 on the year.
• in the year to August 2008, the number of people claiming incapacity benefits fell by 51 thousand, to 2.6 million and the number receiving lone parent benefits fell 19 thousand to 745 thousand.

ILO unemployment has risen this quarter

• 1.97 million people were ILO unemployed in October to December, up by 146 thousand on the quarter and 369 thousand on the year
• the ILO unemployment rate is 6.3%, up 0.4 percentage points on the quarter and up 1.1 percentage points on the year.

The level of economic inactivity is down on the quarter and down on the year. 

• the economic inactivity level is 7.86 million, down 29 thousand on the quarter and down  48 thousand on the year.
• the economic inactivity rate is 20.8%, down 0.1 percentage points on the quarter and down 0.2 percentage points on the year.
• excluding students, inactivity as a proportion of the working age population is unchanged on the quarter and down 0.4 percentage points over the last year, at 15.4%.

The number of redundancies is increasing although there are still many vacancies available

• the economic inactivity level is 7.86 million, down 29 thousand on the quarter and down 48 thousand on the year.
• the economic inactivity rate is 20.8%, down 0.1 percentage point on the quarter and down 0.2 percentage points on the year.
• excluding students, inactivity as a proportion of the working age population is unchanged on the quarter and down 0.4 percentage points over the last year, at 15.4%.

Earnings growth in the year to October was 3.2%, unchanged from November

• excluding bonuses, average earnings growth was 3.6%, unchanged from the November figure.

Key out-of-work benefits: latest levels, in thousands ¹

• Between August 1997 and August 2008, the number of people claiming one of the main out-of-work benefits fell by 1,010,400.  Since then there has been a rise in the number of JSA claimants, but it remains the case that the overall number of people on out of work benefits has fallen by over three quarters of a million compared to 1997.

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