Over-65 workers top a million
The number of over-65s in a job has reached a record one million, new figures revealed.
Unemployment has fallen by 5,000 to 2.5 million and the numbers claiming jobseeker’s allowance shrank by 8,600 last month to 1.5 million.
A record 29.7 million people are in work after a rise of 24,000 in recent months.
The Office for National Statistics figures also showed that just over a million people over 65 are in work, the highest since records began in 1971.
Almost one in 10 people in the age group are working – 615,000 men and 388,000 women.
Other data disclosed that public sector employment has fallen by 22,000 to just under 5.7 million. the lowest figure since 2001.
Local government employment is 26,000 lower than the end of last year at fewer than 2.5 million and employment in private firms has increased by 46,000 to 24 million.
The UK’s employment rate is now 71.5%, while 7.8% of the population is jobless and the so-called claimant count has fallen for seven months in a row and has dipped to its lowest total since May 2011.
The fall in unemployment in the quarter to April was entirely due to men finding work, while the number of women out of a job rose by 7,000 to 1.09 million.
Long-term unemployment has also increased, with those looking for work for longer than a year up by 11,000 to almost 900,000.
Youth unemployment – counting those aged between 16 and 24 – has fallen by 43,000 to 950,000.
Total pay increased by 1.3% in the year to April, compared to the previous month’s revised figure of 0.6%.
Average total pay, including bonuses, is now £484 a week, falling to £447 without bonuses.
Employment minister Mark Hoban said: “It’s a credit to the growth of British businesses up and down the country that we now have a record number of people employed in the private sector.”
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the figures show that any economic green shoots are confined to the stock market and the pay of top bosses.
“While there is a record number of people in work – due to a rising population and people working past state pension age – the chances of actually being in work has fallen in the last three months.
“Decent pay rises seem confined to top bosses, whose pay is now rising 10 times as fast as ordinary workers. We need far stronger economic growth to boost our jobs market and for top bosses to stop hogging limited business gains for themselves.”
The Press Association
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