Joblessness is under two million

Unemployment fell below the two million mark, the latest official figures show.

Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, unemployment was down by 154,000 to 1.97 million in the three months ending August compared with the 2.13 million figure for the previous three months.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.0% from 6.5%.

The number of unemployed men fell by 69,000 to 1.1 million and their unemployment rate was down to 6.3% from 6.6%. The number of unemployed women fell by 85,000 to 876,000 and their unemployment rate was down to 5.7% from 6.3%.

Under the claimant count, which only includes those people on Jobseeker’s Allowance, unemployment fell by 18,600 to 951,900 million in September. The joblessness rate was down to 2.8% from 2.9%.

The number of male claimants fell by 9,800 to 615,600 and their joblessness rate was down to 3.4% from 3.5%.

Women claimant numbers fell by 8,800 to 336,300 but their joblessness rate was steady at 2.2%.

While the fall in both counts has been welcomed, the average worker’s living standard is still being hit, with average earnings rising by just 0.8% in August, well behind the rise in inflation, whichever of the two main rates are used for comparison.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/october-2014/index.html