Commenting on today’s labour market statistics released by the Office for National Statistics, CIPD Chief Economist Mark Beatson said: “Another huge fall in unemployment means that unemployment has fallen below 2 million a month earlier than many expected, and this is the first time it has been below 2 million since September-November 2008, the time of Lehman Brothers’ collapse and a descending sense of gloom, if not panic, about the economy. The recovery took longer than expected but the strength of employment throughout that period has continued to surprise. Even twelve months ago, unemployment was still at 7.7%.
We have also seen some more very good news on youth unemployment, which has fallen by just over a quarter of a million in the past year, with most of the fall (207,000) among young people not in full-time education. Although the population of young people is falling slightly and a few more of them are in full-time education, most of this improvement appears to be due to 18-24 year olds taking advantage of the expanding labour market to find employment. Research shows that most employers are impressed with the young people they take on – and we are delighted to see more people being given the chance.
Jobs growth remains very strong, with the number in employment increasing by 736,000 over the last twelve months and, although self-employment has been increasing, the majority of this employment growth has been in full-time employment.
Pay growth, though, remains very subdued, indeed it is barely moving. In August, total weekly earnings were only £1 a week higher than in December last year. Our labour market has been enormously successful at getting people into work – the next challenge is to enable people once they are in work to develop their skills and productivity so they have meaningful opportunities to progress and earn more.