Unemployment rate posts a fall


Unemployment according to the Labour Force Survey fell by 16,000 to 1.62 million in the three months to October 2016. The unemployment rate stood at 4.8% compared to 4.9% in the three months to May, making it the lowest jobless rate since July-September 2005.


The number of unemployed men fell by 13,000 to 888,000 and their unemployment rate fell to 5.0% from 5.1%. The number of unemployed women fell by only 4,000 to 728,000 and their unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.7%.


David Freeman, senior statistician at the Office for National Statistics, said that the small fall in unemployment was more than offset by a rise in economic inactivity. 


There were 8.91 million people of working age who were economically inactive in the August-October period — 76,000 higher than in the previous three-month period.


Unemployment on the other main measure, the claimant count, rose for the fourth consecutive month. 


This count only includes claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance and those on the means-tested Universal Credit. In November, the monthly rise was 2,400 taking the total to 809,000 from the revised total of 806,700 in October. 


The rise in numbers was not sufficient to affect the joblessness rate which remained at 2.3%.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/unemployment