UK unemployment claims show biggest jump in two years
This article states that unemployment fell by 26,000 in the three months to May 2011 (to 2.45 million people) while the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance actually increased by 24,500 last month (reaching 1.52 million).
Reasons for the discrepancy between the two sets of figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have been attributed to an increase in the number of women claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance due to changes in the benefits system. Furthermore, unemployment figures have not been as high as expected because according to the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), businesses have retained staff through short-time working, wage cuts and other mechanisms.
Looking at the data more closely – and in a note of caution – David Kern, a chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, predicts: “we will see more public sector job cuts in the coming months, and we are expecting unemployment to increase by 150,000 to a peak of 2.6 million over the next 12 to 15 months”.
For me, the jury is still out – what impacts will public sector cuts and the job losses to come have? And will the private sector be able to generate jobs of the size, scale and specification to meet labour demand?