UK unemployment at five-year low amid jobs boom
Would be very interesting to get an urban/rural split for this story….
Britain’s jobs boom accelerated in the first three months of the year as unemployment reached a five-year low, fuelled by a surge in self-employed workers.
Employment accelerated at the fastest pace in 43 years to reach 30.4 million people, after the number of those in work jumped by 283,000 over the last three months. However, the business secretary, Vince Cable, said the figures were a warning that the UK labour market was becoming too flexible.
Much of the demand appeared to be for low-paid work after figures showed the rise in the number of self-employed people since last summer kept up its strong run. The number of self-employed people in the UK has risen by 375,000 since March 2013 to nearly 4.6 million, according to the latest Office for National Statistics data, outstripping the 351,000-strong increase in full- and part-time employees in the private and public sectors.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 6.8% from the 6.9% announced last month, the lowest since February 2009.
The underlying employment trends could delay the Bank of England’s first hike in interest rates, with studies showing that pay levels among the self-employed are around 40% lower than for employed people and are dragging down average pay rates.