Jobless figures move both ways

A fall in the number of unemployed women meant that under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count unemployment fell by 1,000 to 1.43 million in the three months to September compared with the previous quarter. This count is the government's preferred measure and includes people not eligible for benefits.

The unemployment rate was 4.7% - down from 4.8% for the previous quarter. The number of unemployed men rose by 15,000 to 849,000 (a 5.2% rate) while the number of unemployed women fell by 16,000 to 584,000 women (a 4.2% rate).

However, the claimant count, which only includes those drawing Jobseekers' Allowance, rose for the ninth month in a row to 890,100 in October - a rise of 12,100 on the previous month.

The unemployment rate under this count was steady at 2.8%. The number of unemployed men on benefit rose to 660,900 (a 3.9% rate), and the number of unemployed women rose to 229,200 (a 1.6% rate).

The number of people who said they were made redundant was 157,000 in the three months to September - up 29,000 on the previous quarter.

The downward spiral in manufacturing jobs continued. The number of manufacturing employee jobs in the three months to September was down by 97,000 or 3.0% to 3.17 million.