UK unemployment reaches highest level in 17 years

UK unemployment reaches highest level in 17 years

2011-10-13 06:00:42 GMT+7 (ICT)

LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom registered 8.1 percent with over 2.5 million people unemployed during the last three month period, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Wednesday.

In its October Labor Market Statistics, the office said the total number of unemployed people increased by 114,000 during the quarter June to August with 2.57 million unemployed people, noting that the last time the unemployment rate was higher was in the three months to July 1996. The total number of jobless people, however, has not been higher since the three months to October 1994.

Meanwhile, the report also showed that the number of unemployed people aged from 16 to 24 increased by 74,000 during the quarter to reach 991,000, reaching 21.3 percent of the economically active population for that group. This figure includes 269,000 people in full-time education who were looking for part-time work and is the highest since comparable records began in 1992.

The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for the three months to August 2011 was 23.3 percent, virtually unchanged on the quarter.  The number of economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64 rose by 26,000 during the quarter to reach 9.35 million.

In addition, the report said there were 1.6 million people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) in September. This is up 17,500 from August, but the number of people claiming JSA for up to six months fell by 9,100 between August and September to reach 995,700.

In the three months to August 2011, 150,000 people had become redundant in the three months before the Labor Force Survey interviews, up 6,000 over the quarter.

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