Unemployment rises to 2.51 million in August, says ONS
Wednesday, 14 September 2011 09:45
The UK economy received some more bad news today as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released unemployment figures for August.
Unemployment in the UK increased by 20,000 to 2.51 million in the three months to the end of July. The rise in unemployment was less than many economists feared but still provide further bad news for the UK economy.
The total number of unemployed people increased by 80,000 in the three months to the end of August, which is the largest quarterly increase for two years. The quarterly rise in unemployment occurred mainly for those aged 18-24.
The number of people claiming jobless benefits also increased by 20,300 from July to reach 1.58 million.
The rate of unemployment remains at 7.9 per cent of the economically active population, up 0.3 per cent on July. The number of people unemployed for up to six months rose by 66,000 to 1.23 million.
Total pay (including bonuses) increased by 2.8 per cent from one year earlier and total pay (excluding bonuses) rose by 2.1 per cent.
The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for the three months to July 2011 was 23.3 percent, unchanged on the quarter. The number of economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64rose by 11,000 over the quarter to reach 9.38 million.
Howard Archer, Chief UK & European Economist for IHS Global Insight said: "While claimant count unemployment rose less than feared in August, this was outweighed by a sharp drop in employment and marked rise in unemployment on the International Labour Organization measures.
"Overall, this is a worrying jobs report which indicates that the economy’s persistent weakness, lower business confidence and public sector job cuts are now feeding through to take significant toll on jobs."
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