LONDON, Aug 13 (EFECOM) – The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom fell to 4.2% between April and June, compared with 4.4% in the previous three months, leaving it at a one-year high, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday.
The employment rate in the same period was 74.5%, up from 74.4% in the previous three months, while the economic inactivity rate among people aged 16 to 64 who are not looking for work was 22.2%, up from 22.1% previously, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The estimated number of job vacancies was 884,000, down 26,000 from the previous period, while workers’ annual income fell by 5.4% in the quarter.
“The medium-term outlook remains rather bleak,” said Liz McKeown, director of statistics at the ONS, with the rate of growth “in the number of part-time employees slowing throughout the year.”
After the data was released, Employment Minister Liz Kendall said a Labour government would deliver “the change the country needs, making work tidy, transforming skills, revamping job centres and giving local areas the strength they need to drive jobs and growth.” Avicom
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