Jobs market shows signs of stabilising
THERE were tentative signs that the worst could be over for Britain’s ailing jobs market yesterday, after official figures showed that unemployment fell at the end of last year.
The jobless figure stood at 2.671m, or 8.4 per cent, in the three months to December – down 14,000 from 2.684m in the three months to November, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), though it remains at a near 15-year high.
The quarter also saw employment rise by 60,000 to 24.853m, though the number of full time workers fell 10,000 while a jump in part-time employment accounted for the rise.
Youth unemployment fell 5,000 to 1.038m – though 307,000 of those are in full-time education.
“Overall, the outlook for the labour market is still pretty dismal,” said economist Nida Ali from the Ernst and Young Item Club.
“Survey data for January was relatively upbeat, but the improvement is unlikely to be enough to create more jobs in the economy.”
“We expect the number of unemployed people to hit nearly three million next spring, or 9.3 per cent.”
Pay rose 2.4 per cent to £462 per week in the private sector in the year to December, and 1.4 per cent to £477 in the public sector.
With inflation running at 4.2 per cent in the year to December, real incomes are still falling sharply, though the Bank of England’s latest forecasts show inflation falling to its two per cent target by the end of 2012.