Unemployment rate rises to 6.5%

The number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the claimant count have all increased. The number of vacancies has fallen. Growth in average earnings, both including and excluding bonuses, has fallen. There has been a fall in the employment rate but the number of people in employment has increased slightly on the quarter. The number of inactive people of working age and the inactivity rate have fallen.

The employment rate for people of working age was 74.1 per cent for the three months to January 2009, down 0.1 from the previous quarter and down 0.7 over the year. The number of people in employment for the three months to January 2009 was 29.38 million, up 2,000 over the quarter but down 75,000 over the year. There has been a fall over the quarter of 48,000 people in full-time employment and a rise of 50,000 in part-time employment.

The number of jobs in December 2008 was 31.32 million, down 203,000 on the quarter and down 284,000 over the year. This is the largest quarterly fall in jobs since September 1992. Most sectors have shown falls in jobs over the quarter with the largest fall occurring in finance and business services (down 102,000).

The unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent for the three months to January 2009, up 0.5 over the previous quarter and up 1.3 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 165,000 over the quarter and by 421,000 over the year, to reach 2.03 million. The unemployment level and rate have not been higher since 1997.

The claimant count was 1.39 million in February 2009. It is up 138,400 over the previous month and up 595,600 over the year. This is the largest monthly increase in the claimant count since comparable records began in 1971.

The redundancies level for the three months to January 2009 was 266,000, up 86,000 over the quarter and up 154,000 over the year. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1995.

The inactivity rate for people of working age was 20.6 per cent for the three months to January 2009, down 0.3 both over the previous quarter and over the year. The number of economically inactive people of working age fell by 102,000 over the quarter and by 78,000 over the year to reach 7.80 million.

The annual rate of growth in average earnings including bonuses was 1.8 per cent in the three months to January 2009. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 1991 and is down from 3.1 per cent in the three months to December 2008. This fall in the growth rate was mainly due to lower bonuses in the financial sector. The corresponding annual growth rate excluding bonuses fell slightly to reach 3.5 per cent in the three months to January 2009.

There were 482,000 job vacancies in the three months to February 2009, down 74,000 over the previous quarter and down 203,000 over the year. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001. All sectors have shown falls in vacancies over the quarter with the largest falls occurring in distribution, hotels and restaurants (down 27,000) and finance and business services (down 24,000).
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Source: Office for National Statistics

Notes:
People in employment, unemployed and economically inactive make up the total household population aged 16 and over, measured through the Labour Force Survey on a consistent basis since 1971.

Working age is defined as 16-64 for men and 16-59 for women.