Highest unemployment in over a decade

Recent figures released by the Office for
National Statistics reveal unemployment hasn’t been such a concern since 1997.
Monster says online recruitment is down overall although some sectors have risen since
February.

According to the Office for National
Statstics, the number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the
claimant count have all increased, while the number of vacancies has fallen.
Growth in average earnings, both including and excluding bonuses, has fallen.
However, the number of inactive people of working age and the inactivity rate
are little changed.

The unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent for
the three months to February 2009, up 0.6 over the previous quarter and up 1.5
over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 177,000 over the
quarter and by 486,000 over the year, to reach 2.10 million. The unemployment
level and rate have not been higher since 1997.

The redundancies level for the three months
to February 2009 was 270,000, up 45,000 over the quarter and up 162,000 over the
year. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1995.

The employment rate for people of working
age was 73.8 percent for the three months to February 2009, down 0.4 from the
previous quarter and down 1.1 over the year. The rate has not been lower since
the three months to December 1998. The number of people in employment for the
three months to February 2009 was 29.27 million, down 126,000 over the quarter
and down 227,000 over the year.

Job vacancies meanwhile are at the lowest
levels they have been since records began in 2001. The largest falls are
reported to be occurring in distribution, hotels and restaurants (down 26,000)
and finance and business services (down 19,000).

The inactivity rate for people of working
age was 20.7 percent for the three months to February 2009, virtually unchanged
over the previous quarter but down 0.1 over the year. The number of
economically inactive people of working age fell by 5,000 over the quarter and
by 9,000 over the year to reach 7.85 million.

The Monster Employment Index UK decreased by
seven points in March, reversing the seasonal increase in online recruitment
seen in February. Year-on-year, the index was down 77 points, or 41 percent –
the steepest annual decline on record. Hugo Sellert said: “Overall, online
recruitment in the UK
has fallen once again.  There is cause
for optimism however, in some sectors. Hiring of education and production
workers rose in March and healthcare has shown encouraging annual growth.”