And youth unemployment rose to 1.027 million, the highest since records began, while the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance rose by 3,000 to 1.6 million in November.
However, despite this, the rises were smaller than had been predicted by economists, many of whom have said that there are tentative signs that the deterioration in the labour market is slowing.
"Clearly the labour data are deteriorating, but much more slowly than the recent pace and not as badly as previously feared," said Alan Clarke, economist at Scotia Capital.
And there was also better news for women, with the percentage of 16 to 64-year-old women who are economically inactive falling to 29.1 per cent, the lowest proportion since records began in 1971.
However, those out of work for 12 months or more rose to 868,000 from 849,000 three months earlier, and account for one in three of all unemployed. And the number of actual job vacancies continued to decline, down 8,000 to 455,000.
Commenting on the unemployment figures, employment minister Chris Grayling said they did not present the level of bad news seen over the past two to three months.
"There has obviously been an unwelcome increase in unemployment since the summer but these latest figures show some signs that the labour market is stabilising," he said.
"The number of people in employment is higher than last month's published figure and the number of unemployed people is steadying. Encouragingly this is also the case for young people not in education.
"The increase in those claiming jobseeker's allowance has slowed and our welfare reforms are having a positive impact, with overall benefit claimant numbers falling by around 40,000 in the last 18 months."
For more information, please visit www.milsted-langdon.co.uk
[ add comment ] ( 66 views ) | permalink
Search
