Cameron hails good news in monthly jobs figures

Monthly jobs figures released by the Office for National Statistics yesterday showed unemployment fell by 2,000 people in Yorkshire to 244,000 – leaving an overall unemployment rate for the region of 7.04 per cent.

Nationwide, unemployment fell by 5,000 to 2.5m, with the total number of people in work up 24,000 to a record 29.4m in the three-month period to April.

David Cameron hailed the Government’s “good record” on jobs at Prime Minister’s Questions, insisting the rate of private sector growth is far outstripping the losses in the public sector as austerity measures continue.

But unions pointed to figures showing the number of people working past 65 has now reached one million, while Labour focused on the squeeze on pay packets and the general decline in living standards.

A breakdown of Yorkshire’s year-on-year jobs figures showed the number of people in work in the region is up by 62,000 compared with the same period in 2012. The number of people officially classed as unemployed, however, has barely changed in a year, with the largest fall coming in people previously classed as “economically inactive”.

Employment Minister Mark Hoban said this was still “good news” and that progress was slowly being made.

“It’s a credit to the growth of British businesses up and down the country that we now have a record number of people employed in the private sector,” he said.

“Our priority is getting people back into work, and today’s figures show we have more people in work than ever before, more women in work than ever before, and more hours worked in the economy than ever before.”

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne said that despite rising employment there were still too many people out of work.

“The tiniest glimmer of light is to be welcomed but today’s figures confirm the awful truth that there’s been practically zero progress tackling unemployment since last summer,” he said.

“Pay packets have continued to take an absolute hammering while the Government is cutting tax credits.”