Long-term unemployment falls 20 per cent

The
Government has announced that a record 28.55 million people are now in work and
there has been a 20 per cent fall in long-term unemployment over the last year.

Employment
is up by 132,000 this quarter, the largest rise since spring 2000. There are
now over 1.6 million more people in work since 1997.

Work
minister Nick Brown said: "Unemployment has fallen by more than half a
million during this time. Recently it has levelled off, but the numbers of
people in long-term unemployment have continued to fall rapidly."

"Since
1997, long-term youth unemployment has been virtually eradicated. And the
number of people aged 25 and over on benefits for more than a year has fallen
by over 350,000, or 70 per cent."

According
to the Independent Labour Organisation (ILO), the number of people seeking work
whether or not they are on benefits has risen 44,000 over the year due to more
people entering the labour market and now stands at 1,544,000. The number of
people claiming unemployment benefits fell by 6,200 over the year to 949,600.

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Other
figures show that average earnings growth was 3.9 per cent in the three months
to June, up from the May rate of 3.8 per cent.

By Paul Nelson