Unemployment posts a fall


Unemployment posted the largest fall for over two years. 


In the three-month period ending March 2019, the number of unemployed people fell by 65,000 to 1.3 million from 1.36 million in the period ending December. This was the largest quarterly decrease since September to November 2016.


The fall in numbers was enough to cut the unemployment rate to 3.8% from 4.0%.


The number of unemployed men fell by 45,000 to 701,000 and their unemployment rate was down to 3.9% from 4.1%. 


Meanwhile, the number of unemployed women fell by 20,000 to 597,000 and their unemployment rate was cut to 3.7% from 3.9%. The rate is a record low since records began in 1971, the Office for National Statistics said.


The claimant count, the other main official unemployment measure, which only includes people receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance and those on the means-tested Universal Credit, posted another increase.


In April 2019, unemployment under this count was 1.09 million — a 24,700 increase on the revised total of 1.06 million for March. But the joblessness rate remained unchanged at 3.0%.

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