While the number of unemployed people in Britain was little changed over the ONS’ latest data period, the number of people in work increased marginally.
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The latest Office for National Statistic mark a third consecutive quarter of rising unemployment, having risen 16,000 in the three months to January and by 20,000 in the three months to February. Including men, the employment rate was 74.2%, also a record high.
Unemployment in Scotland has risen for the third time in a row, according to official figures. “With summer just around the corner, an influx of seasonal work and graduate jobs could improve prospects and help us move towards a flourishing employment market”.
Capital Economics” Paul Hollingsworth said: “Assuming that the United Kingdom does vote to “remain’ next month, we should see a bit of a bounce-back in economic activity later this year, and as such the recovery in jobs and earnings are likely to pick up some pace again”.
United Kingdom unemployment was broadly flat at the most recent reading.
Jim Hillage, director of research at the Institute for Employment Studies, said the figures gave m ore evidence that the labour market was starting to “plateau”.
The number of job vacancies dropped by 18,000 to 745,000, the ONS added, marking the first fall for nearly a year.
Paul Hollingsworth at Capital Economics said that these figures were a sign that economic slowdown generally was having a tangible effect on the recovery of the jobs market, and predicated any boost in the near future on continued membership of the European Union.
The rebound from a weaker picture in the first three months of the year defied the predictions of City analysts, who expected a further deterioration in pay to 1.7%.
But Jeremy Cook, chief economist at currency dealer World First, described the figures as indicative of a listless labour market weighed down by Brexit fears. The jobless-claims rate, however, remained at 2.1%.
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“Labour market data is typically slow moving and, viewed through a prism of the referendum, is increasingly hard to gauge”.
