- In the three months June to August 2014, employment rose by 46,000 compared with the previous three months, the smallest quarterly increase since spring 2013.
- Unemployment fell by 154,000 compared with the previous three months.
- The unemployment rate for June to August 2014 was 6.0%, the lowest since late 2008.
- Youth unemployment fell to 16.0% down from 17.7% in the previous three months.
- Pay including bonuses was 0.7% higher than a year earlier, while pay excluding bonuses was 0.9% higher.
- The East of England now has the highest employment rate of all the UK regions
Commenting on the East of England statistics, Caroline Williams, CEO of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said: “Unemployment in our region has seen the largest annual fall since records began over 40 years ago. The number of unemployed people is now below 2 million for the first time since 2008. We have also seen the largest annual fall in unemployment amongst our young people (18-24) since unemployment records began. Excluding those in full time education, there are now 468,000 unemployed young people, this is down nearly a third compared to last year.
The latest Labour Market Statistics reflect the results from the recent Quarterly Economic Survey, which also noted that whilst recruitment was strong, there had been a slow down. We are confident that the Norfolk and East of England business communities will continue to strive towards economic growth and prosperity and the creation of more jobs.”
Commenting on the labour market statistics for October 2014, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
“These figures confirm once again that the UK labour market remains strong. The significant fall in youth unemployment over the past year is a remarkable success story, despite the fact that it is above the national average.
“However, there are some areas of concern such as the slowest increase in employment for fifteen months, which suggests that the pace of economic growth is easing. While the fall in unemployment over the past three months was larger than the rise in jobs, this is because the number of people choosing not to seek work increased.
“With early wage increases remaining below 1% a year there is clearly no case for early rate increases – and we are pleased that this view is now widely accepted by the financial markets.”
