The rate of UK unemployment fell to 4.1% in the three months to July, down from 4.2% in the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics has said
Meanwhile average regular earnings growth fell to 5.1% in the three months to July and was 3% higher after taking Consumer Prices Index inflation into account
The wage figures mean that the full, flat-rate state pension for those who reached state pension age after April 2016 is expected to increase to £230 a week. That will take it to £11,962 a year, a rise of £460 compared with now.
“Today’s figures reveal that while some UK labour market indicators are improving, 2.79 million working-age people remain sidelined from the workforce due to long-term sickness, leaving employment levels at 74.8% – lower than a year ago, and a long way short of the Government’s target of 80%.” says Ben Harrison, Director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University,
“Unemployment has fallen slightly to 4.1% but economic inactivity due to ill-health remains stubbornly high at 2.79 million. And the reality is that the longer people are out of work, the harder it is for them to get back.
“Liz Kendall and the Government have this morning described this as ‘the greatest employment challenge for a generation’, but their plans to get Britain working are not quick fixes. They require a re-wiring of the welfare offer by overhauling the punitive culture of Jobcentres, improving public services and creating new relationships with local leaders to open up opportunities.
“While plans to get people back to work bed in, the Government must also work with employers to stem the flow of people leaving the labour market. Over 73,000 people have left the labour market in the last year due to long-term sickness – on average 200 people per day – and employers must be empowered to re-design job roles and provide flexibility around existing health conditions to help workers stay in sustained employment.
