UK unemployment drops by 4,000 to 2.51 million

The latest report from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that the UK unemployment rate for April to June 2013 was 7.8% of the economically active population, unchanged from January to March 2013.

In other words, there there were 2.51 million unemployed people, down 4,000 from January to March 2013, as well as 29.78 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 69,000 from January to March 2013.

The data provided by the ONS also revealed the fact that the inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for April to June 2013 was 22.3%, virtually unchanged from January to March 2013. There were 8.99 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 10,000 from January to March 2013.

Unfortunately, the data supplied by the INS also revealed the fact that there are now 973,000 16-24-year-olds who are not working or in education or training, up 15,000 from the last quarter.

Following the government’s cost-cutting policies, a fall of 22,000 public sector jobs was recorded in the three months ending in March 2013, down to 5.70 million, whilst private sector jobs increased by 46.000 to 24.06 million.

The study also offered a glimpse into the evolution of salaries across the UK labour market, the data revealing that regular pay rose by 1.1% over the 1 year period, while total pay (including bonuses) rose by 2.1 percent. Nevertheless, that’s still less than half the rate of inflation.

All in all, the data supplied by the ONS paints a fairly positive picture regarding the UK’s economy, although there are still some reasons of concern, especially in terms of youth unemployment.