Indications are that the economy looks to be growing stronger eccording to the latest figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that the rate of employment is at a record high of 30.8m as employment continued to rise and unemployment continued to fall, maintaining the general direction of movement since late 2011/early 2012.
In the last 3 months 37,000 more were in work than for June to August 2014 and, in comparison with the same period in 2013, there are 512,000 more people in work. Job vacancies have also risen across the country by 127,000 to hit a 14-year record high with around 700,000 job opportunities.
In the UK the unemployment rate has fallen below 6% to 5.8% for the first time since 2008 to 1.19 million, a fall of 1.3 percentage points on the year.
In 2014 Apprenticeship schemes across Stockport proved a great success among the younger workforce; across the UK, the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate), was 73.0%, unchanged from June to August 2014 but higher than for a year earlier (72.0%).
The female employment rate is also at a new record high of 68.2 per cent with 14.4m women in work. The figures also show that regular pay was up 1.8 per cent and private sector pay was up 2.2 per cent.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:
“Today’s job figures are further proof that the economy is growing stronger. With a new record of 30.8m people in jobs; more women in work than ever before; wages rising; and prices low due to inflation”. Mr Clegg added that “it is encouraging to see the recovery that is creating thousands of jobs for people across Britain.”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander MP said:
“Today’s larger than expected fall in unemployment shows that our jobs rich recovery remains on track.
“We’re continuing to buck the European trend with strong growth and record job creation. And with earnings continuing to outstrip inflation, the benefits of the recovery are starting to flow into people’s wage packets.”
Source: ONS / Andrew Stunell
Azets welcomes debt advisory specialist to North West 
HMRC warns of Self Assessment scams 
Inflation rose to 3.8% in July