Record low for earnings growth
While there may be good news on unemployment, there is bad news regarding earnings.
Unemployment under the Labour Force Survey count fell by 121,000 to 2.12 million in the three-month period ending May compared with the previous quarter. The unemployment rate was down to 6.5% from 6.9%.
However, British workers’ earnings grew at the slowest rate on record. In the three-month period ending May, the percentage change for regular pay for the whole economy, excluding bonuses, was 0.7%, the lowest rise since the series began back in 2001.
The majority of the fall in unemployment was down to a 95,000 cut in the number of unemployed men. Numbers were down to 1.17 million while their unemployment rate was cut to 6.6% from 7.2%. The number of unemployed women was down by 25,000 to 956,000. Their unemployment rate fell to 6.3% from 6.5%.
On the other main jobless measure — the claimant count which only includes those people on Jobseeker’s Allowance — unemployment was down by 36,300 to 1.04 million in June.
Male claimant numbers were down by 22,300 on the previous month to 668,100, and the male joblessness rate was down to 3.7% from 3.9%. Women claimant numbers fell by 14,000 to 376,200 and their joblessness rate was down to 2.4% from 2.5%.