Britain records 27,000 rise in unemployment
Unemployment in the UK has increased by 27,000 despite another fall in the number of people claiming jobless benefits, new figures showed today.
The rise, the biggest for more than a year, took the total to 1.44 million, the highest since last Christmas.
The unemployment rate, covering the latest quarter to June, increased by 0.1% to 4.8%.
The number of economically inactive people, including those who are sick or disabled, have taken early retirement or simply stopped looking for work, increased by 89,000 to 7.85 million – the highest figure since records began in 1984.
The number of inactive men increased over the three months by 51,000 to 3.1 million, also a record high, while among women the figure rose by 38,000 to 4.75 million.
But there was some brighter news for the British government with other figures showing that the claimant count fell in July by 13,700 to 835,200 - the lowest level since 1975 and the 14th consecutive monthly cut.
The number of people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance is now 100,000 lower than a year ago.
Today’s data from the Office for National Statistics also showed that the number of people out of work for longer than a year has fallen 18,000 to 290,000, the joint lowest on record.
There were 658,300 job vacancies in the UK economy last month, up by 74,100 from a year ago and one of the best on record.
Meanwhile average earnings increased by 4.4% in the year to June, unchanged from the previous month.
Wage growth in private firms fell back by 0.1% to 4.3% while in the public sector it rose by 0.1% to 4.4%.
Manufacturing jobs continue to be axed, today's report confirmed, down by 102,000 in the quarter to June to 3.37 million compared with a year ago, the lowest total since records began in 1978.
Productivity in manufacturing firms increased by 5% over the past year.
There were 19,000 days lost through industrial disputes in June, the lowest monthly total for almost a year.
The UK continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the developed world at 4.8% compared with the United States (5.6%), Spain (11.1%), Germany (9.8%), France (9.5%), Poland (18.9%), Italy (8.5%) and Belgium (8.6%).
Countries with lower unemployment rates include Austria (4.2%), Cyprus (4.4%), Ireland (4.5%) and Japan (4.6%).
