Jobless women pass million mark

Unemployment among women has broken through the one million barrier for the first time in 17 years, the latest official figures show.

Under the Labour Force Survey count, the number of unemployed women rose by 50,000 to 1.02 million in the three-month period to July. It is the first time that women’s’ unemployment has breached the one million mark since January 1993. The unemployment rate for women leaped to 7.0% from 6.7% in the previous period.

On the plus side, male unemployment was down by 58,000 to 1.45 million and their unemployment rate was down to 8.5% from 8.9%.

Overall, that meant that once again unemployment showed a fall but only a small one of 8,000 to 2.47 million. The unemployment rate was down to 7.8% from 7.9% in the previous period to April.

The fall was less than expected and the fear is that it will shortly start to climb again later in the year as the public sector job losses kick in. The concern is that the jobs market will not be be able to cope with the losses.

The claimant count, which only takes into account those claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, ended a run of falls by posting small rise. It was up by 2,300 to stand at 1.46 million in August. The unemployment rate was steady at 4.5%.

Male claimant numbers were down, but women on benefits rose.