The employment rate and the number of people in employment have fallen. The number of vacancies has fallen. Growth in average earnings, both including and excluding bonuses, has fallen. The number of inactive people of working age and the inactivity rate are little changed.
The unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent for the three months to February 2009, up 0.6 over the previous quarter and up 1.5 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 177,000 over the quarter and by 486,000 over the year, to reach 2.10 million. The unemployment level and rate have not been higher since 1997.
The claimant count was 1.46 million in March 2009. It is up 73,700 over the previous month and up 672,100 over the year. The claimant count has not been higher since September 1997.
The redundancies level for the three months to February 2009 was 270,000, up 45,000 over the quarter and up 162,000 over the year. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1995.
The employment rate for people of working age was 73.8 per cent for the three months to February 2009, down 0.4 from the previous quarter and down 1.1 over the year. The rate has not been lower since the three months to December 1998. The number of people in employment for the three months to February 2009 was 29.27 million, down 126,000 over the quarter and down 227,000 over the year.
There were 462,000 job vacancies in the three months to March 2009, down 68,000 over the previous quarter and down 230,000 over the year. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001. Most sectors have shown falls in vacancies over the quarter with the largest falls occurring in distribution, hotels and restaurants (down 26,000) and finance and business services (down 19,000).
The inactivity rate for people of working age was 20.7 per cent for the three months to February 2009, virtually unchanged over the previous quarter but down 0.1 over the year. The number of economically inactive people of working age fell by 5,000 over the quarter and by 9,000 over the year to reach 7.85 million.
The annual rate of growth in average earnings including bonuses was 0.1 per cent in the three months to February 2009. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 1991 and is down from 1.7 per cent in the three months to January. This fall in the growth rate was mainly due to lower bonuses in the financial sector. The corresponding annual growth rate excluding bonuses was 3.2 per cent in the three months to February 2009. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001 and is down from 3.5 per cent in the three months to January.
