UK unemployment increases to 2.64m
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UK unemployment rose by 128,000 between August and October to 2.64 million, a new 17-year high, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS says the unemployment rate was 8.3 per cent of the economically active population, up 0.4 per cent on the quarter. The unemployment rate is the highest since 1996.
The number of unemployed people aged from 16 to 24 increased by 54,000 over the quarter to reach 1.03 million; this figure includes 297,000 people in full-time education who were looking for part-time work.
The number of economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64 fell by 54,000 over the quarter to reach 9.33 million.
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Readers' comments (1)
John Lacy | 14 Dec 2011 11:53 am
When I see 9.33 million classed as economically inactive I become very angry indeed.
Our Socialist brethren pilloried Margaret Thatcher for 3.5 million unemployed but when they were in power they started to hide the true effects of their own policies. Most of these economically inactive people would have been classed as unemployed in the '70s and '80s. Even if I'm generous and subtract 1 million from the current total it means that the "worker's friends" were presiding over an unemployed level of 10.97 MILLION.
Now the hypocrites have the nerve to criticise a government that is trying to sort out the Labour mess.
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