Jobless rise hits women

Women were the main sufferers as unemployment rose in the second quarter of the year.

Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count unemployment was up by 27,000 to 1.42 million in the three months to June compared with the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate of 4.7% was unchanged on the previous three months. The number of unemployed men rose by 4,000 on the previous quarter to 827,000 (a 5.1% rate) but the number of unemployed women rose by 22,000 to 596,000 (a 4.3% rate).

Unemployment under the claimant count, which only includes those drawing jobseekers' allowance, also rose - for the sixth consecutive month - to 866,000 in July. However, the unemployment rate was steady at 2.8%.

The number of unemployed men on benefit rose to 643,500 (a 3.8% rate), and the number of unemployed women rose to 222,500 (a 1.6% rate).

Official figures show 127,000 workers had been made redundant in the three months to June - down 7,000 on the previous quarter.

The manufacturing sector continued to shrink with employment levels down by 86,000 to 3.2 million. This is a 2.5% fall on a year earlier.