Unemployment continues to fall


UK unemployment has continued to fall and is now at its lowest level for 11 years, official figures show.


Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, the number of unemployed people fell by 31,000 to 1.58 million in the three-month period November 2016 to January 2017. The LFS count was last lower in the three-month period ending February 2006.


The number of unemployed men fell by 21,000 to 867,000, and their unemployment rate was cut to 4.9% from 5.0%, according to the Office for National Statistics. 


The number of unemployed women fell by 10,000 to 717,000, and their unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from 4.7%.


The overall unemployment rate was down to 4.7% from 4.8%. That’s its lowest level since the three-month period ending September 1975 when Rod Stewart was Sailing at number 1 in the pop charts. 


The claimant count — which only includes claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance and those on the means-tested Universal Credit — also saw a fall in numbers.


In February 2017, unemployment under this count fell by 16,400 to 734,700 from the revised figure for January of 746,000. The fall in numbers helped cut the joblessness rate which fell to 2.1% in February from 2.2% the previous month.

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