-Adds further detail on earnings to version transmitted at 0930BST
-Apr Claimant Count Unemployment -13,700 m/m; Rate 4.9%
-Mar Average Weekly Earnings total pay +0.6% vs +1.1% in Feb
-Jan-Mar ILO Unemployment -45,000; Rate 8.2%
-Mar Claimant Count revised to -5,400 from +3,600
LONDON (MNI) – Claimant count unemployment fell at the fastest pace
for nine months in April, seemingly at odds with recent economic data
which shows the economy has fallen back into recession, figures
released by National Statistics revealed Wednesday.
The data, which also report a healthy rise in the level of
employment and fall in ILO unemployment, shows that firms are hiring and
that the labour market remains remarkably unaffected by the slowdown in
growth.
The level of claimant count unemployment fell 13,700 on the month
in April against the median forecast for a rise of 4,500. The originally
estimated 3,600 rise in the measure in March was also revised to show a
drop of 5,400.
This was the first back-to-back monthly falls in the claimant count
since September and October 2010 and the largest monthly decline since
July 2011.
There was no anecdotal evidence that hiring for the olympics had
flattered the data. While London showed the largest decline in the
claimant count of all the regions, this was not surprising though as it
has the largest population.
The official measure of ILO unemployment fell 45,000 in
January-March compared with the previous three months, the largest drop
since the three months to April 2011. This took the level of
unemployment to its lowest since July-September 2011, in spite of the
economy showing negative growth in Q4 2011 and Q1 this year. The rate of
ILO unemployment fell to 8.2%, below the median of 8.4%.
Employment rose a healthy 105,00 on the quarter, the largest rise
since January-March 2011.
While the jobs market showed surprising resilience, earnings growth
remained very subdued with total pay headline average weekly earnings
falling to just 0.6% in March from 1.1% in February.
The latest fall was due to lower bonus payments across all sectors
but mainly in financial services and manufacturing. Financial services
bonus payments were down 13.02% on the year in March with overall total
pay growth falling to -1.5% in the three months to March compared with a
year earlier, down from unchanged in February.
Total pay in manufacturing fell to 0.5% in the three months to
March compared with the same period a year earlier, as bonus payments
fell 21.9% on the year to March and 9.4% in the three months to March
versus a year ago.
Regular average weekly earnings remained steady at 1.6% on a year
earlier in the three months to March.
-London bureau: 00 44 207 862 7491 e:mail: puglow@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MABDA$,M$B$$$,MT$$$$,MABDS$]