Unemployment unexpectedly falls
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell unexpectedly in October, according to new official figures.
Just over 950,000 people were claiming Jobseeker’s allowance, a fall of 5,700 on the previous month. However, this is still almost 50,000 more than this time last year.
It is the biggest fall in the claimant count since June 2005, and is backed up by a 7,000 reduction in unemployment as measured by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
About 5.5 per cent of the working population is now classified as unemployed – about 1. 7 million – while 29 million are in work, a proportion of 74.5 per cent.
Employment minister Jim Murphy welcomed the figures, saying that combined with reductions in the number of people on incapacity and lone parent benefit, they showed an “encouraging picture”.
“Because of our reforms to the welfare state, more people have been looking for work and now more people are taking up jobs,” he said.
He added: “We are determined to reach our long-term aim of 80 per cent employment, and to break for good the cycle of poverty and benefit dependency.”
Unemployment has become a major political issue in recent months, as opposition parties attack Gordon Brown’s record as chancellor ahead of his expected move to No 10 when Tony Blair resigns as prime minister next summer.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne questioned last week why there had been no reference to the rise in unemployment in Mr Brown’s pre-Budget report.
“He is so obsessed about securing his next job that he has forgotten about the 300,000 people who have lost their jobs,” he declared.
The Liberal Democrats also unearthed figures from the report which appeared to predict a rise in unemployment to 1.01 million by 2007-08, although Mr Brown rejected this and said there was no way of predicting unemployment.
