Latest employment figures indicate the ‘labour market is stabilising' – despite official figures showing a 48,000 rise in unemployment has pushed the UK's jobless rate to a 16-year high - a government welfare minister has claimed.
According to labour market statistics issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today, the number of unemployed rose to 2.67 million people – a jobless rate of 8.4%, in the quarter to December 2011.
Claimants for Jobseeker's Allowance rose 6,900 in January to 1.6 million people while a 90,000 hike in part-time workers contributed to an overall 60,000 increase in employment to just over 29 million people.
Youth unemployment levels – which include 307,000 full-time students seeking work – grew 22,000 to 1.04 million and means 22.2% of 16 to 24 year olds are deemed jobless.
In the quarter to September 2011 67,000 jobs were shed across the public sector, of which the bulk, 30,000 were shed in education, 12,000 from health and social work and 8,000 by the NHS.
However, minister for welfare reform, Lord Feud said the latest figures show ‘encouraging signs of stability despite the challenging economic climate'.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said the majority of the 78,000 fall in inactivity – people out of work and not looking for employment - was due to the progress made through work programme in offering individuals tailored support to move from incapacity benefits.
Dr John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said: ‘The latest headline jobs data are considerably better than expected but closer analysis indicates that the UK labour market was in the doldrums at the end of 2011, neither contracting dramatically nor mounting anything approaching a decent recovery.'
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB trade union - which is considering its links with Labour over the party's commitment to the public sector pay freeze – said the political consensus for deflation and austerity was ‘both surprising and shocking'.
‘So widespread is support for this failed orthodoxy that some Labour groups on councils, at the behest of the leadership, are supporting deflationary pay policies for their own staff,' added Mr Kenny.
