Claimant count fall ends

Unemployment broke an 18-month run of falls in October when the claimant count rose by 3,500 to 1,047,300, or 3.6% of the working population. The count was made up of 802,500 men (5.0%) and 244,800 women (1.9%). The figure is still temptingly close to going below the politically sensitive one million mark, but it now seems unlikely to happen this year.

Nevertheless, the unemployment rate is still among the lowest since 1975 and the jobless total has shown an average fall of 7,300 over the last three months and 11,700 over the last six months.

But regional figures show a north-south divide with London, the South East and South West showing falls in the number of claimants. The North East and West Midlands showed rises of 1,000 or more. The North East and Northern Ireland have the largest regional unemployment rates - 6.4% and 5.3%, while in the South East it is just 1.8%.

The unemployment count did show a fall based on the ILO count - the preferred government measure - which includes people not claiming benefit. This figure fell to 1,586,000 (5.4%) in the three-month period July to September - a 36,000 fall.