Search

date: 16 February 2010

embargo: 00.01hrs Wednesday 17 January 2010

TUC looks for signs of recovery in February unemployment figures

The TUC will be looking for three key signs that the jobs market is improving when the February unemployment figures are released by the Office of National Statistics later this morning (Wednesday).

With more job losses announced in the last week (2,000 at Birmingham City Council, 900 at the Bosch factory in Miskin, Cardiff and 469 at clothes retailer Ethel Austin) and a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) survey reporting that the public sector is considering severe job cuts this year, the TUC is concerned that the UK labour market is still very fragile.

In this month's figures the TUC will be hoping for:

• A fall of more than 30,000 in overall unemployment: Between September to October 2009 unemployment fell by 33,000. Another fall of more than 30,000 would be good news for the economy, but while the labour market is so finely poised it is possible that unemployment will start rising again later this year.
• A fall in the number of involuntary temporary workers: The number of people taking temporary jobs because they can't find permanent work has increased by 120,000 since the start of 2008, and one in three temps are now in this position. If the number of involuntary temporary workers rises to over 500,000, this would be a bad sign.
• A fall in the number of involuntary part-time workers: Since the start of 2008 part-time employment has increased by 220,000. This is more than matched by a 300,000 increase in the numbers working part-time because they cannot get full-time work. The proportion of people working part-time workers because this is all the work they can get has risen from one in ten to one in seven. This increase is particularly noticeable for male part-time workers - a quarter of whom now say they are working part-time for want of a full-time job. It would be a cause for concern if the number of involuntary part-time workers remains more than one million.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Recent unemployment figures have been encouraging and show Government action to stem the jobs crisis is working. Investment is the best way to secure a sustained economic recovery and cutting back on spending now could still unleash a double dip recession and send unemployment soaring.

'But even if the jobs figures are slowly improving, hundreds of thousands of people across the UK are still out of work, with many more job losses announced in the past week, and for each of them this recession remains a personal tragedy.

'The TUC is also concerned that job statistics could be making the market look deceptively healthy - a closer look suggests that thousands of people are taking part-time or temporary jobs because they cannot secure full-time positions. A growth in insecure and low-paid employment at the expense of secure work is not good news for them or for the economy.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Source: ONS, Labour Market Statistics

- For further TUC analysis on unemployment figures go to www.touchstoneblog.org.uk

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (700 words) issued 17 Feb 2010