21 June 2012

Biggest job boost since 1978

UK manufacturing has enjoyed its most positive jobs uplift since 1978. New official labour market statistics released yesterday showed that against a national all-sector rise of 0.3% in the number of adults employed in the last quarter, manufacturing jobs increased by 1.5%.

It is the largest quarterly increase in employment in the sector since records began 34 years ago.

The increase in employment was 38,000, bringing the total number of people working in manufacturing to 2.56 million. Over the past year, manufacturing employment has increased by 0.6%.

The national all-sector employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 70.6 per cent, up 0.3 on the quarter. There were 29.28 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 166,000 on the quarter. The number of people employed in the private sector increased by 205,000 to reach 23.38 million but the number of people employed in the public sector fell by 39,000 to reach 5.90 million, the lowest figure since March 2003.

The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.2 on the quarter. There were 2.61 million unemployed people, down 51,000 on the quarter.

Total pay (including bonuses) rose by 1.4 per cent on a year earlier, up 0.5 on the three months to March 2012. Regular pay (excluding bonuses) rose by 1.8 per cent on a year earlier, up 0.2 on the three months to March 2012.

Author
Ken Hurst

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