• Home
  • Advice Line
  • Contracts and Handbooks
  • Management Guides
  • Policies
  • Letters
  • Forms
  • Employment Packs
  • My Account

According to the Office for National Statistics, the employment rate and the number of people in employment have fallen.  The number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the claimant count has increased.  The number of vacancies has fallen, the number of inactive people of working age and the inactivity rate have increased.  Growth in average earnings, excluding bonuses, has fallen but earnings growth including bonuses has increased.

The employment rate for people of working age was 73.3 per cent for the three months to April 2009, down 0.8 from the previous quarter and down 1.5 over the year.  The total number of people in employment for the three months to April 2009 was 29.11 million, down 271,000 over the quarter and down 399,000 over the year.  This is the largest quarterly fall in the number of people in employment since comparable records began in 1971.

The redundancies level for the three months to April 2009 was 302,000, up 36,000 over the quarter and up 191,000 over the year.  This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1955.