UK unemployment rose for a third month in a row with the figures likely to give the Bank of England more confidence that the labour market is cooling sufficiently to cut interest rates in the coming months.
The jobless rate climbed to 4.3% in the three months to March, the highest rate since last summer, the Office for National Statistics said
Wage growth stayed at 6%,while the number of people in work fell by 178,000 and the number of vacancies also fell
Ben Harrison, Director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, a leading think tank for improving working lives in the UK:
“While the UK might be out of a technical recession, today’s data suggest the UK’s labour market participation crisis deepens further. Employment is down compared to this time last year and 0.5% on the quarter, while unemployment and economic inactivity are both rising.”
“figures estimate unemployment has ticked up to its highest level for seven months at 4.3%, while economic inactivity due to ill-health is up by a third compared to pre-pandemic levels and is now a near record 2,820,000.
“With vacancies still high, the Prime Minister has announced plans to overhaul the UK’s benefit system to get more people with long-term health conditions working. But the Government’s focus on extending welfare sanctions risks pushing these people even further away from the labour market.
“Since January to March 2023, on average, the number of people who are economically inactivity due to ill health has risen by 295 people a day. It is vital that the Government works closely with employers and other agencies to stem the flow of people who are leaving work due to sickness.
“And as one in three people (633,000) who are long-term sick report they want to work, the Government must prioritise de-risking the journey back to secure and sustainable work for those people with tailored employment support.
