Unemployment rises again

Unemployment rose in July for the second month in a row, according to official figures.

Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, the government's preferred measure, it rose by 27,000 to 1.44 million in the second quarter of the year compared with the previous quarter. The LFS count includes people not eligible for benefits.

The unemployment rate was 4.8%. There were 843,000 unemployed men (a 5.2% rate) and 597,000 unemployed women (a 4.4% rate).

The claimant count measure of unemployment, which only takes in those actually drawing benefit, showed its 14th monthly fall in a row, dropping by 13,700 to 835,200 in July - the lowest level since July 1975. The rate under this measure was 2.7% - the lowest since April 1975.

The number of unemployed men on benefit fell to 624,100 (a 3.7% rate), while the number of women fell to 211,100 (a 1.5% rate).

Jane Kennedy, minister for work, said: "Despite a mixed picture this month, unemployment has fallen over the year to levels not seen since the mid-1970s."

However, the downward spiral in manufacturing jobs continued - down by 102,000 to 3.37 million in the three months to June compared to a year earlier. Textiles, leather and clothing shed 19,000 jobs over the year.