Unemployment figures mask UK labour market’s grim reality
February 18, 2010 by admin
Filed under Career News and Advice
The good news is that unemployment in Britain fell in the final quarter of
2009. The bad news is that the figures mask a much darker reality.
By Amanda Monaghan, Economics Reporter
Published: 6:45AM GMT 18 Feb 2010
A growing number of people are settling for part-time work because they are unable to find a full-time job
Photo: BLOOMBERG NEWS
There are still 2.46m people unemployed, and a further 2.8m who are not
working as much as they would like to. On top of that, the number of people
claiming jobless benefits has actually started to rise again, and thousands
have simply given up looking for a job and are turning to education to fill
the void.
Unemployment fell by 3,000 in the third quarter, to 2.46m, the
Office for National Statistics (ONS) told us yesterday , leaving the
unemployment rate unchanged at 7.8pc. The news was broadly welcomed and
underlined the expectation that unemployment is unlikely to peak at above
3m, which was the widely-held view in the early stages of the downturn.
The Government and the business world have put the slower-than-expected rate
of unemployment growth down to state help during the recession, and a more
flexible response from Britain’s labour market compared with …
Read the original article at Telegraph
