§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the factors influencing unemployment levels over the last three months; and if he will make a statement. [120931]
§ Mr. BrowneRecent labour market developments reflect continued steady growth in employment, up by 51,000 in the last three months and 242,000 over the last year. The increase in employment has been matched by a rise in the labour force brought about by population growth and higher activity rates. As a result unemployment has been broadly flat, though it has been fluctuating from month to month around this flat trend.
ILO unemployment currently stands at 1.495 million. The ILO unemployment rate is 5.1 per cent., up 0.1 percentage points in the last three months, but down by the same amount over the last year. The number of 966W unemployed claimants is 950,800. The claimant unemployment rate is 3.1 per cent. and has been unchanged at this level since December 2001.
The Government's approach is based on macroeconomic stability combined with active labour market measures to help jobless people, particularly the most disadvantaged, get back into work. Steady economic growth and policies such as New Deal have contributed to a rise of 1.5 million in the number of people in work since 1997, while long-term unemployment has fallen by 75 per cent. to a historically low level.