Jobless total falls by 88,000

Yorkshire’s jobless tally fell by 9,000 nine per cent between February and April and now stands at 237,000, or nine percent.

Nationally, the quarterly fall was the biggest in more than a decade, taking the jobless total to 2.43 million.

But the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance jumped by 19,600 last month to 1.49 million, the worst figure for more than a year.

Economic inactivity also increased, up by 39,000 in the three months to April to reach 9.37 million, more than a fifth of the working age population.

Government hopes that private firms will create jobs as posts are cut in the public sector were given a boost with news that employment in the private sector increased by 104,000 in the first three months of the year to 23 million.

At the same time, public sector employment fell by 24,000 to 6.1 million, and the decline would have been bigger but for the 15,000 temporary jobs created to deal with the Census.

The 88,000 fall in unemployment in the three months to April was the biggest quarterly cut since the summer of 2000.

The reduction was mainly among 16 to 24-year-olds, with unemployment in this age group being cut by 79,000 to 895,000, the lowest figure for two years.

Other data from the Office for National Statistics showed that employment increased by 80,000 to 29.2 million, still 333,000 lower than the pre-recession peak in May 2008.

The number of men claiming JSA increased by 11,000 to more than a million, while 8,500 more women joined the claimant count, taking the total to 483,700, the highest figure since 1996.

Changes to lone parent income support has affected the number of women claimants.

Annual earnings increased by 1.8% in the year to April, down by 0.6% on the previous month, largely because of lower growth in bonuses in private firms.

Average pay was £460 a week in April, up by 1.8% on a year ago.

The UK’s employment rate has edged up by 0.1% to 70.6%, up by 0.4% on a year ago.

Full-time employment increased by 49,000 in the latest quarter and by 31,000 for part-time jobs.

There were 31.3 million jobs in the economy in March after a huge increase of 121,000 over the quarter.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “This is another encouraging set of figures and a very welcome drop in unemployment.

“It’s also good news that employment is going in the right direction with half a million more people in private sector jobs compared to this time last year.

“The fall in the number of unemployed young people also means that the total is now lower than it was before the General Election.

“However, we still face a challenge to help more of the long- term unemployed into work.

“Last week I announced that the new Work Programme is now up and running and will provide tailored support for more people on benefits.”

The Government said private and voluntary sector organisations were investing £581 million up front in the biggest welfare-to- work programme this country has ever seen.

Ian Brinkley, centre director at The Work Foundation, said: “The labour market continues to defy warnings that the economic recovery has come to a halt. Private sector job growth in the three months to April compared with the previous three months was strong and dominated by full-time employment.

“The fall in headline unemployment was much stronger than expected, but is driven by more young people going into higher and further education.

“The recovery is still having little impact on underlying unemployment and groups such as the young and the over-50s still face challenging times. Tougher times may well be ahead, but today’s figures are encouraging.”

John Walker, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “It is good news that unemployment has fallen and employment has risen, having remained stagnant for some time.

“It is now vital that we continue this trend by encouraging those budding entrepreneurs that want to go it alone to set up in business and incentivise small firms to take on more staff. We know that small businesses want to employ.

“They have told us that if the Government reduced payroll costs they would take on staff. Extending the National Insurance contributions holiday to existing firms must be at the heart of Government plans for growth if we to continue to reduce unemployment.”