Jobless claimant total rises in UK
The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefit in the UK has increased for the ninth month in a row, new figures showed today.
An extra 12,000 men and women claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance last month, taking the total to 890,100, the highest total of any month this year and 76,300 more than in January.
The so-called claimant count has now increased for nine consecutive months, the longest sequence since the early 1990s when the figure rose for 31 consecutive months to reach 2.9 million.
The total number of unemployed, including those not eligible for benefit, fell by 1,000 between July and September to 1.43 million, according to today’s figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Despite the small fall in the latest quarter, the figure was 41,000 higher than a year ago, although the unemployment rate was at a 30-year low of 4.7%.
Jobs continued to be lost in manufacturing, down by 97,000 in the latest quarter compared to a year ago to 3.17 million, the lowest figure since records began in 1978.
The number of people in work reached a record high of 28.8 million in September after an increase of 123,000 in the latest three months.
The number of full-time workers increased by 127,000 to more than 21 million while there was a fall of 4,000 in the number of part-time workers.
The total level was the best since records began in 1971.
Around 157,000 people were made redundant in the three months to September, an increase of 29,000 from the previous quarter.
The number of people classed as economically inactive, including students, those looking after relatives or anyone who has taken early retirement, fell by 36,000 in the latest three months to 7.89 million.
Average earnings increased by 4.1% in the year to September, down by 0.1% over the August figure.
Earnings growth in the public sector was 4.2%, compared with 4% in private firms.
There were 28,000 days lost through industrial disputes in September, the highest since May, taking the yearly total to 239,000.
