Jobless rate rises on both counts

Unemployment rose on both official counts, according to latest figures.

Under the Labour Force Survey count it rose for the fourth month in a row to 1.53 million in the three months to January compared with the previous quarter – a 37,000 rise on the quarter. This count is the government’s preferred measure and includes people not eligible for benefits.

The unemployment rate also rose to 5.0% – up from 4.9% for the previous quarter. The number of unemployed men fell by 5,000 to 879,000 (a 5.3% rate), but the number of unemployed women rose by 42,000 to 649,000 (a 4.7% rate).

The claimant count, which only includes those drawing Jobseeker’s Allowance, rose by 14,600 to 919,700 in February from the revised figure of 905,100 for January.

The unemployment rate under this count was unchanged at 2.9%. The number of unemployed men on benefit rose by 11,000 to 669,500 (a 4.0% rate), and the number of unemployed women rose by 3,600 to 239,000 (a 1.7% rate).

Manufacturing lost 111,000 jobs in the three months to January on a year earlier, and employee numbers were down by 3.5% to 3.1 million.

Numbers in employment fell by 7,000 in the three months to January to 28.8 million.