Women’s unemployment rises

Unemployment in the UK fell by 20,000 to 2.45 million in the three months to August under the Labour Force Survey count. This saw the unemployment rate come down to 7.7% from 7.8% in the previous three-month period.

However, the number of unemployed women rose by 36,000 to 1.01 million and their unemployment rate rose to 7.0% from 6.7%.

Commenting on the figures, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Female unemployment has been rising for over a year and is now over a million. With hundreds of thousands of jobs set to go in the female-dominated public sector, women look likely to suffer rising joblessness for some time to come.”

Male unemployment was down by 56,000 to 1.44 million and their unemployment rate was down to 8.4% from 8.8%.

Long-term unemployment also showed an increase. The overall number of people of working age who have been unemployed for over a year rose by 31,000 to 811,000 in the period ending August on the previous three-month period.

The claimant count, which only takes into account those claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, rose again to stand at 1.47 million in September. The rise was small enough not to impact on the unemployment rate which stayed at 4.5%.