Jobs - a look behind the headlines

Today saw the publication of the latest employment figures from ONS: Labour Market Statistics, December 2012.

BBC News headlines where - UK unemployment falls by 82,000, says ONS

However let us look behind the headlines. If we start with the quarterly growth in the total of people estimated to be employed in the UK:

You will notice that in the last quarter Aug-Oct 2012 the growth in the number of people employed grew as compared to the previous quarter, but less than the same quarter last year. Also in the last quarter there was 54 thousand more men in employment, whereas for women there was 13 thousand less in employment.

And if we look at the growth in workforce jobs in the last quarter:

The growth has come from new employee jobs. Previously there has been a concern about part time and self employed jobs, but this quarter the number fell:

And if we break down growth in employment to regions:

And unemployed by region:

You will notice a growth in unemployed in the growth engine of the UK which is London.

Finally the change in those classed as economical inactive since the previous quarter by region:

And of those economical inactive the change in the last quarter is:

To summaries,  whilst the economy is in the doldrums with low growth, jobs are still being created in the private sector, mostly it seems in Yorkshire and the Humber. 

Notes: Figures in charts in thousands, click on charts to enlarge. Data from ONS.

Employment - a look behind the headlines

Yesterday brought some good news on the employment front, as reported by BBC News "The number of people out of work in the UK has fallen to its lowest total for more than a year."

But if you look behind the figures things don't seem that good - take the change in employment over one year in percentage terms:  In employment an increase of 1.8% (513) - of which number of employees rose by 1.3% (319); number of self employed rose by 2.7% (112); number of unpaid family members rose by 4.6% (5) and number in government supported training & employment programmes rose by 86.6% (77). (figures in brackets are in thousands)

And of those, over a year, there was an increase 0.9% (197) in full time employment and an increase of 4% (316) in part time employment. Which can be split further down as follows:

EFT Employed full time - EPT Employed part time, SFT self employed full time - SPT self employed part time. 

Another worrying trend is the increase in number unemployed for more than 12 months:

Finally, regional change in employment since July to September 2011:

and changes in unemployed:

Data from ONS Labour Market Statistics, November 2012

Employment in Wales and the bad news for women.

As reported by BBC Wales on Wednesday, the total number of people recorded as being unemployed  in  Wales went up by 2,000 (actually it was around 1,678) in the last quarter to 132,701.

Below is a summary of the headline figures for the last quarter (March-May):

As you can see the number of people employed in Wales fell by 9,055.

If we now look at the figures for men.

You will notice that the number of men unemployed in Wales went down by 4,772 over the last quarter. The number of men aged 16 -64 classed as economically inactive rose by 9,523.

And looking at figures for women:

The number of women unemployed went up by 6,450 over the last quarter.

To help us understand some of the above, ONS say:

Employment measures the number of people in paid work and differs from the number of jobs because some people have more than one job.

Unemployment measures people without a job who have been actively seeking work and are available to start work if a job is offered.

Economically inactive people are not in employment but do not meet the internationally accepted definition of unemployment because they have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or they are unable to start work within the next two weeks.

So what can we learn from the above? - I think it shows us that jobs are still being created in the welsh economy, although a growing problem is the number of people out for work for a long time. But what should concern us most, is that the above figures seem to confirm:

Spending cuts will disproportionately affect women: women are more likely to be the beneficiaries and users of public services; and employees in the public sector. (from The Guardian)

The chart below show the percentage of the population claiming job seekers allowance by unitary and local authority:

The chart below show the percentage of the population claiming job seekers allowance by region:

And the percentage change in claimant count by region over one year:

See also: Telegraph - Employment is rising but its not down to job creation.

To download the data for above: ONS Labour Market Statistics, July 2012, and as ever click on image to enlarge.