Unemployment Figures for March 2013

Introduction

Here is this month’s round-up of unemployment data for Worcestershire (from the April 2013 County Economic Summary).  Further information about national figures can be found here.  As always, the county figures are for claimant count, which is also in the national figures but is lower than the headline figure based on availability for work.

Unemployment

The claimant count in Worcestershire in March 2013 decreased by 248 to 10,437, 927 lower than in March 2012.  This is 3.0% of the 16-64 population, which remains below the regional (4.7%) and national (UK also 4.7%) levels. 

The district with the highest proportion of claimants was Redditch (3.9%) whilst the greatest decrease in absolute terms (between March 2012 and March 2013) took place in Worcester with a fall of 258 claimants.  The urban centre with the highest proportion of claimants is Kidderminster with 4.4% and the lowest is Wythall at 1.8%.  In Worcestershire's urban areas the proportion of claimants is 3.5%, which is 0.5% higher than the county as a whole.

Long Term Unemployment

Those claiming Jobseekers Allowance between 6 and 12 months have decreased by 3.5 to 17.1% since March 2012 whilst those claiming for more than 12 months have increased by 4.1% over the same period to 22.2% of all claimants.  The number of people claiming for 6-12 months has declined due to them either finding employment or falling into the category of claiming for more than 12 months.

Unemployment by Occupation

The claimant count is not broken down by industry, but using data by occupation does give an indirect indication of the industries involved.  The greatest number of people are seeking employment within Elementary occupations, with 3,100 people (29.7%) seeking this occupation in March 2013.  This has shown no change in comparison to February 2013 though it has decreased by 100 claimants when compared with March 2012.

Claimants Leaving the Unemployment Count

2,090 people left the claimant count in March 2013, of those people 48.6% have found employment and a further 39.5% are either 'not known' or have 'failed to sign'; it is possible that some of these people have also found employment.

Youth Unemployment – Claimants Aged 18-24

In March 2013 the number of claimants aged 18-24 was 2,965, a decrease of 65 compared to February 2013 and 485 fewer than March 2012.  The proportion of claimants aged 18-24 is 7.2%, this is 0.3 percentage points higher than the England average.  The district with the highest proportion of claimants aged 18-24 was Wyre Forest (8.7%)and the greatest decrease in absolute terms (between March 2012 and March 2013) took place in Redditch with a fall of 140 claimants.

Business Confidence
The results of the Q1 2013 British Chamber of Commerce Economic Survey suggest welcome progress, however the improvements are modest.  The national confidence balances are much stronger than in the 2008-09 recession, but are below their
pre-recession levels in 2007.  Manufacturers' profitability confidence rose 3 points to 33% and turnover confidence increased by 3 points to 44%.  The service sector turnover confidence rose 2 points to 40% whilst profitability confidence remained steady at 22%.

Comments

Some comments on the national picture from a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development briefing:

Neil Carberry, CBI director for employment and skills, commented: “The rise in unemployment is disappointing and reflects a lacklustre economy over recent months.

“However, the increase in the headline rate is due to more people looking for work, who weren’t previously doing so, rather than simple job losses. Numbers claiming unemployment benefits are still falling.

“The flat employment growth is down to a fall in part-time jobs. Full-time posts increased again this month, continuing the positive trend of recent months.”

 

Mark Beatson, chief economist at the CIPD, said: “This month’s figures have seen the recent period of sustained employment growth come to an end. The number of people in employment is very marginally down on the previous three month period, with full-time employment increasing but part-time employment falling. At the same time, with the population increasing and economic inactivity continuing to fall – which in itself is not a bad thing – this has led to a quite substantial increase in unemployment, up by 70,000 on the previous three month period.

“The question is whether this is a short term blip or whether a lack of demand means that the economy will struggle to create more jobs.”

Recruitment intentions, forecast in the CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook, are still positive, Beatson added, while redundancy figures have not changed significantly.

Therefore it would be “unwise to read too much into a single month’s figures” he said.

 

Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said: “Although there has been an increase in a number of unemployed this month, all the indications and feedback we receive from recruiters show that businesses intend to hire more people this year. We expect to see slow growth in the jobs market over the coming months.”