Jobless rise continues to slow down

The rise in the UK jobless figures continues to slow and benefits claimants were down, latest figures show.

Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, unemployment went up by 21,000 to 2.49 million in the the period of the three months to October.

The rise was the lowest since the figures last showed a fall in May last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The jobless rate remained steady at 7.9%. The number of unemployed men rose by 15,000 to 1.54 million and the unemployment rate was up to 9.1%.

Meanwhile, the number of jobless women rose 6,000 to 951,000 but their unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.6%.

However, the claimant count, which only includes those claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, fell by 6,300 in November to 1.63 million. This was the first fall since February 2008.

The unemployment rate was steady at 5.0% for the third month. Unemployed men on benefit numbered 1.19 million, but their unemployment rate was steady at 6.8%.

The number of jobless women was down to 440,600 but their jobless rate remained at 2.9%.

Manufacturing jobs continued to disappear with 221,000 disappearing in the three months to October 2009 compared with a year earlier.

The 7.8% fall took manufacturing employment levels to 2.61 million.