–May Claimant Count Unemployment +19,600 m/m; Rate 4.6%
–Apr Average Weekly Earnings +1.8% vs +2.4% in Mar
–Apr Average Weekly Earnings ex bonuses +2% vs +2.1% in Mar
–UK Feb-Apr ILO Unemployment -88,000 Q/Q; Rate 7.7%
–UK Apr Claimant Count revised to +16,900 m/m from +12,400

LONDON (MNI) – The official measure of unemployment fell at its
fastest pace for eleven years in the latest three months, but there was
a sharp rise in the number of unemployed claiming benefits.

The level of unemployment based on the ILO measure fell 88,000 in
February-April compared with the previous three months, the largest fall
since August 2000, causing the unemployment rate to decline to 7.7% from
7.9% previously.

There was also a sharp rise in employment of 80,000 in the latest
three months suggesting that the labour market is stronger than many had
forecast.

The more up-to-date monthly claimant count measure of unemployment,
however, rose 19,600 between April and May, the largest rise since July
2009. This followed an upwardly revised rise of 16,900 in April compared
with the original 12,400 estimate,

Analysts had expected to see a much smaller 5,000 increase in the
claimant count in May.

Recent increases in the claimant count may have been partly due to
a rise in women joining the count having been moved off of lone-parent
benefits. The May figures, however, showed a significant rise in men
joining the count by 11,100, the largest increase since January 2010,
with women up 8,500.

The government has made a concerted drive to move more people on to
Job Seekers Allowance from other benefits such as incapacity benefit and
this may be suspected as having exaggerated the rise in the claimant
count.

National Statistics, however, said that the incapacity benefit
assessments were in early stages and evidence suggested that few people
had been forcibly moved to the claimant count. It was possible, however,
that some incapacity claimants had voluntarily claimed Job Seekers
Allowance prior to an assessment taking place.

Employment also posted a strong 80,000 rise in the latest three
month period, with the vast majority of this coming from gains in full-
time employment.

While most economists expect to see unemployment rise over the
coming year as many jobs in the public sector are lost, this has yet to
be seen in the official data.

Earnings growth remained very subdued in April with headline
Average Weekly Earnings falling to 1.8% from 2.4% in March, below the
median of 2.3%.

Excluding bonuses, regular pay growth eased to 2% in April from
2.1% in March, below the median of 2.1%.

–London bureau: 00 44 207 634 1655 e:mail: ukeditorial@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$B$$$,MABDS$]