Unemployment stays at 4.9%

Unemployment stood at 4.9% between June and August, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS says the number of unemployed increased, but there is also an increase in the number of people working, meaning the overall percentage remained unchanged on the previous three months. The number of people not working and not seeking or available to work fell.

There were 31.81 million people in work, 106,000 more than for March to May 2016 and 560,000 more than for a year earlier.

There were 23.23 million people working full time, 362,000 more than for a year earlier. There were 8.58 million people working part time, 198,000 more than for a year earlier.  The number of employees increased by 296,000 to 26.83 million (84.3% of all people in work) and the number of self-employed people increased by 273,000 to 4.79 million (15.1% of all people in work).

However, there were also 1.66 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 10,000 more than for March to May 2016 but 118,000 fewer than for a year earlier. The number of women who were unemployed rose by 23,000 on March to May figures, but fell by 12,000 for men.

The employment rate for women increased, however, and that is partly due to ongoing changes to the state pension age for women resulting in fewer women retiring between the ages of 60 and 65.

Average weekly earnings for employees increased by 2.3%, both including and excluding bonuses, compared with a year earlier.

• Vote  
• 0
• 0
• You already voted!