Economy adds jobs but 'long way to go'

The UK economy added 236,000 new jobs over three months between May and July 2012. John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said this is “near miraculous for an economy in a double-dip recession”.

The headline unemployment rate fell back to 8.1% over the three months to July 2012, down from 8.3% in June.

Office for National Statistics acknowledged that these figures could reflect “additional short-term employment connected with the Olympics”.

Despite these positive developments, “there is still a long way to go before unemployment returns to normal levels,” said Work Foundation director Ian Brinkley.

“Digging beneath the totals, the figures show some weaknesses. The majority of the new jobs were either part-time or self-employed. While any increase in employment is encouraging, a full labour market recovery must offer more full-time employee jobs,” he said.

ONS figures show that part-time jobs recorded their “highest figure [8.12 million] since comparable records began in 1992” in the three month period to July 2012.

www.xperthr.co.uk/blogs/employment-intelligence/2012/10/whats-behind-the-uk-labour-mar.html