UK unemployment levels are on the rise once again. The numbers have jumped from 21,000 to 1.7 million between December and February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has announced.This is the first time that the numbers have increased since the May-July period of last year.
The unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent, which is still down on the same time last year, when it was 5.6 percent.
Earnings rose by 1.8 percent in the three months to February, which is a slowdown from the 2.1 percent rate for the previous three-month period.
“It’s too soon to be certain, but with unemployment up for the first time since mid-2015 – and employment seeing its slowest rise since that period – it’s possible that recent improvements in the labour market may be easing off,” ONS statistician Nick Palmer said.
There were 31.41 million people in work in the three months , a rise of 20,000 on the September to November period.
he figures also show that there were 5.35 million people employed in the public sector for December 2015. This was scarcely change compared with September 2015 but it was down 50,000 from a year earlier.
The ONS said the number of people employed in the public sector has been generally falling since March 2010.
In the private sector there were 26.07 million people employed for December 2015 – that is 113,000 more than for September 2015 and 529,000 more than for a year earlier.
In the October to December 2015 period the number of UK nationals working in the UK increased by 278,000 to 28.2 million compared with the same time in 2014. At the same time the number of non-UK nationals working in the UK increased by 254,000 to 3.22 million.
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.
