ILO jobless count rises

Unemployment rose in the three months to October under the government's preferred measure, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) count. This figure, which includes people not eligible for benefit, rose by 19,000 compared to the previous three months, to 1,532,000.

The joblessness rate was 5.2%. There were 912,000 unemployed men (a 5.7% rate) and 620,000 women (a 4.6% rate).

The claimant count fell for the fifth successive month to its lowest level since 1975. The number of people claiming benefit and out of work was down by 6,200 to 934,200 in November - an unemployment rate of 3.1% of the workforce.

The claimant count fell in 11 of the 12 regions and was unchanged in one - the South East.

The highest rates were in the North East, with a 4.8% rate, and Northern Ireland (4.4%). And the lowest rates were in the South East (1.7%), the South West (2.0%), the East (2.2%) and the East Midlands (2.9%).

Manufacturing employment continued its inexorable decline. The sector shed 328,000 jobs in the three months to October, falling below the 3.6 million mark to 3,592,000.

But the number of people in employment overall rose by 105,000 to 27.8 million.