First the raw numbers

The LFS unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent in the 3 months to the end of September, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter. The number of unemployed people using the government’s preferred measure (LFS) increased by 140,000 over the quarter. The claimant count was 980,900, up 36,500 from the previous month Unfilled vacancies are down: The number of vacancies was 589,000, down 40,000 The working age employment rate was 74.4 per cent - down 0.4% on the previous 3 months

What is striking is just how quickly the unemployment rates are starting to head north. In the past, unemployment has been seen as a lagging indicator of the economic cycle - rising perhaps over six months after the economic downturn has begun in earnest. This time around, such are the pressures on businesses large and small, that the labour shedding has started earlier in the cycle and - on the surface - on a bigger scale.

I have produced a PowerPoint Chartroom presentation for those colleagues who want the latest UK unemployment figures for their classroom teaching.

PowerPoint Rising_Unemployment_in_the_UK_Economy.ppt