Decrease in UK unemployment
The Office for National Statistics has recently revealed that unemployment in the UK has fallen by 51,000 to 2.61 million. The rate of those jobless fell to 8.2% however the number of people claiming Jobseeker’ Allowance increased by 8,100 to 1.6 million.
Most of the decrease was made up of the male population while female unemployment fell by just 1000. Youth unemployment dropped by 29,000 to a little more than one million. The decrease occurred over all age groups apart from those over 65 and was evenly spread amongst part-time and full-time workers.
Unemployment amongst the private sector rose by 205,000 to 23.38 million, however the number of people employed in the public sector fell by 39,000 to 5.9 million, the lowest figure since March 2003.
Liam Byrne, secretary of shadow work and pensions said that while the latest figures were "a ray of good news” but the "very clear signs of lasting and long-term damage by persistent high levels of long-term unemployment" were troubling.
Signs of unemployment diminishing are always positive however there is clearly some need for investment. The Bank of England have been subject to calls for it to increase its quantitative easing programme, whereby it injects new money into the economy with the purpose of encouraging banks to lend.
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