Jobless totals fall once again

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show further decreases in both measures of unemployment.

Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, which includes people who are not eligible for benefits, the number of jobless fell to 1.65 million in the three months to November 2007 — 13,000 lower than in the previous three months. This represents a 5.3% unemployment rate.

There were 939,000 unemployed men under the count (a 5.6% rate) and 710,000 women (5.0%).

As measured by the claimant count, which only includes those drawing Jobseeker’s Allowance, unemployment fell for the 15th successive month — this time by 6,400 — to stand at 807,700 in December. The unemployment rate under this count was 2.5%. The number of unemployed men on benefit was down to 588,900 (a rate of 3.4%), and there were 218,800 unemployed women — another decrease, taking their rate to 1.5%.

Manufacturing industry lost 33,000 jobs in the three months to November compared with the same period a year earlier, and employment in the sector was down to 2.91 million.

In the three months to November, 124,000 people said they had been made redundant — 3,000 more than in the previous three months, but down 12,000 on the previous year.