Unemployment continues falling with record numbers in work

Office of National Statistics figures show the rate of unemployment in Scotland is now 4.7% compared with the total United Kingdom rate of 4.9%.

However the single month figures sent some mixed signals with employment suffering its sharpest one-month drop in over a year but the number of people reported as unemployed also fell sharply.

The number of unemployed people in the United Kingdom fell by 39,000 to 1.63 million between May and July, from the previous three months.

Annual growth in average weekly earnings in the three months to July slipped to 2.3 percent from the revised 2.5 percent from a month before, though this was less than the slowdown to 2.1 percent economists had forecast.

Scotland has had a record rise in employment with 51,000 people finding work across a three-month period.

The proportion of people in work hit a record high of 74.5%.

The ONS added however that the claimant count rose by 2,400 in August from July.

The employment rate remained at a record high of 74.5%, with 31.8 million people in work in the three months to July – 174,000 more than the previous quarter.

The provincial unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent with Vancouver Island having the lowest regional rate of five per cent. Pay increased by 2.3 per cent including bonuses and by 2.1 per cent excluding bonuses compared with a year earlier.

Scotiabank economist Alan Clarke said the figures showed the jobs market shrugging off the result of the referendum – amid signs elsewhere that the Leave vote has dampened growth.

Knightley said a string of business surveys sugested hiring intentions had weakened substantially in the period after the referendum on 23 June.

United Kingdom wage growth grew less than expected in the three months to July, while early data for August pointed to the start of a post-Brexit-vote labor market weakening.

“It is encouraging to see that of the 559,000 jobs created in the a year ago, 434,000 are full-time positions”, Green said.

The ONS said that 79.4% of men and 69.8% of women aged between 16 and 64 were in work over the three months to July. “We hope to see fiscal stimulus from the Chancellor at the Autumn Statement to help bolster the jobs market, and we call for sensible decisions around any new immigration policy so that businesses can continue to access the people they need”. Also the Bank of England has enacted a fresh stimulus, including cutting its main interest rate to a record low of 0.25 percent.