Falling unemployment brings relief but sting in the tail for those in work

date: 18 April 2012

embargo: For immediate release

Responding to the latest unemployment figures published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

“This long overdue fall in unemployment will bring relief to the 2.6 million people desperately looking for work.

“While any rise in the number of jobs is welcome, the fact is that full-time employment is still falling and a record 1.4 million are now stuck in involuntary part-time work.

“There’s also a sting in the tail for those in work for with wages falling even faster than feared due to low pay growth and stubbornly high inflation.

“We now need to turn today’s good news into a sustained fall in unemployment, with decent pay rises and full-time work. The UK is still a million jobs short of its pre-recession health.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
Top 10 employment blackspots, March 2012

 Source: nomisweb
- The claimant to vacancy ratio for every local authority in Great Britain is available from the TUC press office.
- The labour market statistics are available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/april-2012/index.html
- Further analysis of the labour market figures is available at www.touchstoneblog.org.uk
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

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