Basingstoke MP, Maria Miller has welcomed the figures released by the Office of National Statistics showing the employment rate in the UK is now at a record high of 74.4% and the unemployment rate is at its lowest in over 10 years at 4.9%.
The Office for National Statistics confirmed today that there are a record 31.7 million people now in work – up by 624,000 in the past year and over 2.6 million since 2010.
The total number of unemployed claimants in Basingstoke constituency in June 2016 was 651.This represents a rate of 1.1% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64, the 536th highest of the 650 UK constituencies. The equivalent UK claimant rate was 2.4%. The total number of claimants (both Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit) is 20 lower than in June 2015 and 34 lower than in May 2016.
Maria said “This is fantastic news as the set of figures shows that there are more people in work than at any other point in our history. I am delighted that Basingstoke continues to have one of the lowest levels of unemployment in the UK”
Today’s labour market statistics also show:
- the female employment rate is at 69.6%, the highest since records began in 1971
- at 5.6%, the proportion of 16 to 24 year olds who have left full-time education and are unemployed has never been lower