ERSA welcomes the latest set of labour market statistics

ERSA welcomes the latest set of labour market statistics for February to April 2017, which show unemployment down by over 145,000 on the year and with the rate remaining at 4.6% – the lowest since 1975. The statistics also show that the number of women in work is at a new record high at over 70%. A 57,000 fall in youth employment is more concerning however, as is the 0.6% fall in average pay.

Kirsty McHugh, ERSA’s Chief Executive, said: “Today’s statistics demonstrate that the UK’s labour market remains relatively. This is partly a testament to the scale and efforts of employment support providers working at the front line, helping to change lives, communities and businesses across the UK.

“These figures do however also reflect the sentiment of the public’s vote in last week’s General Election, with worrying signs such as falling wages and continuing higher unemployment amongst young people. This all points to the need for a much stronger domestic policy focus on welfare support, low pay and social mobility. A starting point for tackling these issues will be getting on with the new government’s planning for a Shared Prosperity Fund, while also ensuring we fully allocate all of the crucial 2014-2020 European Social Fund pot which funds employment and skills programmes. Today’s statistics serve as another reminder that securing a prosperous post-Brexit Britain will rely not just on the robustness of the labour market, but on its capacity to work for everyone.”

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DfE NEET statistics quarterly brief: January to March 2017.

Main points for January to March 2017:

• There were 800,000 young people (aged 16 to 24) in the UK who were not in education, employment or training (NEET), a decrease of 28,000 from October to December 2016 and down 68,000 from a year earlier.
• The percentage of all young people in the UK who were NEET was 11.2%, down 0.4 percentage points from October to December 2016 and down 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier.
• 42% of all young people in the UK who were NEET were looking for work and available for work and therefore classified as unemployed; the remainder were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive.

The data comes from:

• DfE’s 16 to 18 participation statistical first release (SFR)
• the labour force survey (LFS)
• regional NEET figures

The publication includes:

• extra tables with NEET estimates by region and gender from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for:
  • 16- to 24-year-olds
  • 18- to 24-year-olds
  • 19- to 24-year-olds
• extra tables with national NEET estimates from the LFS for all age groups
• extra tables with NEET estimates from the LFS by age and gender and labour market status

Labour market status refers to people who are:

• employed
• unemployed
• inactive (have not sought work in the last 4 weeks and/or are not available to start work in the next 2 weeks)

They also released estimates of young people (aged 16 to 24) who are not in education, employment or training, by age and sex.