13 May 2009 – Getting Britain’s unemployed back to work
Employment figures, published today by the UK Statistics Authority, show another rise in unemployment though almost 300,000 people left the claimant count last month.
The Government is committed to helping everyone who loses their job find work as quickly as possible, a commitment backed up by over £3bn in last month’s Budget, on top of new support for people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance at day one and six months which came in April.
Minister for Employment Tony McNulty said:
“We understand that people are finding times tough, but we will not give up on them. That’s why in last month’s Budget we set aside a further £3.1bn to invest in people’s futures and create more opportunities to help them get back to work.
“This includes the £1bn Future Jobs Fund which is aimed at preventing young people and other disadvantaged groups from ending up trapped in long-term unemployment.
“From tomorrow the Fund is open for business and we are calling on local authorities, social enterprises and the wider third sector to bid for money to create real, meaningful, jobs to help kick start careers.”
We have also removed barriers to full time training making it easier for long term unemployed people to get access to new skills to compete for the 455,000 vacancies in the UK economy. Jobseekers at the six month point of their claim can now move to a training allowance in order to benefit from full time intensive training of up to 8 weeks, designed to meet employers’ needs.
Notes to Editors
Background to labour market statistics: May 2009
This month’s labour force survey covers January 2009 to March 2009. The claimant count and Jobcentre Plus vacancy count dates were 9th and 3rd April respectively.
The number of people in work fell this quarter and the number of workforce jobs was down
- 29.2 million people were in work in January to March.
- employment fell by 157 thousand on the quarter and is down 295 thousand on the year
- the employment rate is 73.6%, down 0.5 percentage points on the quarter and down 1.3 percentage points on the year
- the number of workforce jobs was 31,318 in December 2008, down 203 thousand on the quarter and 284 thousand on the year.
The number of people claiming JSA has risen again this month
- claimant unemployment was 1,513.0 thousand in April 2009, up 57.1 thousand on the month, and up 710.7 thousand on the year.
- the claimant unemployment rate, at 4.7%, is up 0.2 percentage points this month and up 2.2 percentage points on the year.
- inflows to JSA were 363.9 thousand in April, up 1.4 thousand on the month and 145.4 thousand on the year. The number of people leaving JSA rose to 290.9 thousand, up 11.8 thousand on the month and up 82.4 thousand on the year.
- in the year to November 2008, the number of people claiming employment support allowance/incapacity benefits fell by 38.5 thousand, to 2.6 million and the number receiving lone parent benefits fell 12.8 thousand to 729 thousand.
ILO unemployment has risen this quarter
- 2.1 million people were ILO unemployed in January to March, up by 244 thousand on the quarter and 592 thousand on the year
- the ILO unemployment rate is 7.1%, up 0.8 percentage points on the quarter and up 1.8 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 7.828 million, down 29 thousand on the quarter and down 43 thousand on the year.
- the economic inactivity rate is 20.7%, 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 down 0.2 percentage points on the quarter and down 0.5 percentage points over the last year, at 15.1%.
The number of redundancies is increasing although there are still many vacancies available
- There were 286 thousand redundancies this quarter, up 27 thousand on the previous quarter and up 175 thousand on the previous year.
- ONS’s vacancy survey estimates an average of 455 thousand unfilled vacancies in the three months to April 2009, down 51 thousand on the quarter, and down 232 thousand on the year.
- In the last month Jobcentre Plus has taken on average around 10,000 new vacancies every working day and many more come up through other recruitment channels
Earnings growth in the year to March was -0.4%, down 0.6 percentage points from the February figure:
- excluding bonuses, average earnings growth was 3.0%, down 0.2 percentage point from the February figure.
Key out-of-work benefits: latest levels, in thousands 1
| Date | Jobseeker's Allowance (claimant count) 2 | Incapacity benefits 3 | Lone Parents on Income Support (IS) 3 | Other (IS others and Pension Credit) 4 and 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May-97 | 1,619.6 | 2,616.3 | 1,014.2 | 256.2 |
| Nov-97 | 1,431.7 | 2,650.8 | 983 | 246.8 |
| Nov-98 | 1,325.3 | 2,643.7 | 939 | 229.4 |
| Nov-99 | 1,184.1 | 2,674.7 | 930.2 | 218.4 |
| Nov-00 | 1,035.6 | 2,722.6 | 905.8 | 196.7 |
| Nov-01 | 959.7 | 2,746.0 | 878.6 | 179.1 |
| Nov-02 | 936.4 | 2,776.6 | 856.2 | 161.4 |
| Nov-03 | 913.0 | 2,780.5 | 831.8 | 154.2 |
| Nov-04 | 829.5 | 2,772.2 | 796.5 | 157.9 |
| Nov-05 | 900.9 | 2,710.5 | 778.6 | 155.7 |
| Nov-06 | 949.3 | 2,673.0 | 775.6 | 161.1 |
| Nov-07 | 818.1 | 2,641.7 | 741.8 | 167.3 |
| May- 08 | 818.7 | 2,595.8 | 738.6 | 173.3 |
| Nov-08 | 1,091.5 | 2,603.2 | 729.0 | 178.9 |
| Latest 6 | 1,513 | 2,603.2 | 729.0 | 178.9 |
| Change May 1997 to May 2008 |
-800.9 | -20.50 | -275.60 | -82.90 |
| Change since May 2008 7 | 694.3 | 7.4 | -9.6 | 5.6 |
| Change on year to latest | 710.7 | -38.5 | -12.8 | 11.6 |
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1. This table includes the main out-of-work client group categories, with the exception of carers who are not subject to activation policies in the same way as other groups.
2. UK figures (seasonally adjusted) published by ONS. This 100% series is the most reliable and up-to-date source for claimant unemployment. Latest figures are for April 2009.
3. GB figures (not seasonally adjusted). Published by DWP back to August 1999 as part of the 100% working age client group analysis. Earlier consistent figures have been created by combining information from the previously published 5% sample data with the WPLS data. A consistent series for the UK as a whole is not readily available.
4. GB figures (not seasonally adjusted). Published by DWP back to August 1999 as part of the 100% working age client group analysis. Before this point a 5% sample series is used, scaled to be consistent with the 100% data.
5. Excludes around 86,000 claimants in receipt of income support and carers allowance. This group has been stable over time and does not affect the estimated decrease in benefit claimants.
April 2009 for JSA and November 2008 for other benefits
May 2008-Mar 2009 for the claimant count, May 2008-Nov 2008 for other benefits (changes over this period may be affected by seasonality as the figures for other benefits are not seasonally adjusted)
