UK unemployment jumps as economy falters

• Nearly 2.5m people unemployed • Benefit claimants rise to 1.56m • Number of women out of work highest since 1988 • Record number are self-employed or working part time • Youth unemployment pushes back towards 1m Britain’s lacklustre economic recovery is taking its toll on the labour market, with unemployment increasing by 38,000 over the three months to June – the largest jump since spring 2009, when the UK was in recession. Official figures released on Wednesday revealed that 2.49m people were out of work on the government’s preferred International Labour Organisation measure. The number of people claiming jobseekers’ allowance also rose by 37,100, to 1.56 million in July. With GDP growth sliding to just 0.2% in the second quarter of the year , analysts had been warning for some time that weaker growth and fragile confidence could deter firms from hiring new workers and lead to a renewed rise in unemployment. “Business confidence clearly needs to rise before employment growth will pick up again, but at the moment the surveys suggest that companies remain worried about economic growth both at home and abroad and are generally erring towards cost-cutting rather than expansion,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit. Women continue to bear the brunt of layoffs, many of which are concentrated in the public sector. Of the 38,000 increase in unemployment over the quarter, 21,000 were women. The number of women out of work is now 1.05 million, the highest since the spring of 1988. A record number of people – 1.26 million – are now self-employed or working part-time, not because they want to, but because they cannot find a full-time job. This total increased by 83,000 over the three months to June. For those who have managed to stay in work, there was some evidence that pay deals are starting to creep up, with average earnings growing at an annual rate of 2.6%, up from 2.3% in the three months to May. Youth unemployment is also rising again, after dropping in recent months, the Office for National Statistics revealed. A total of 949,000 16-to-24 year olds, or 20.2% of the young workforce, were unemployed. Excluding those in full-time education looking for a job, the total is 671,000, or 18.8% of the workforce. Unemployment and employment statistics Economics Unemployment Job losses Recession Work & careers Heather Stewart guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 17, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.