As per the latest figures revealed by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the job vacancies in the three months to August this year stood at 4.2% after making changes to the method of survey.
These methods employed to survey the unemployment rate revealed that there was no change in joblessness compared to the three months to July.
Under the new means of assessing the labor market, there has been no change in the level of joblessness compared to the three months to July.
As per a previous survey, there were 988,000 job openings available from July to September. 14 out of 18 industries surveyed revealed a reduced number of jobs. Contraction in the labor market was seen for the 15th consecutive time.
In December 1973, the country’s lowest unemployment rate stood at 3.4%, while in April 1984, it recorded the highest unemployment rate at 11.9%.
Since the pandemic period, several people who were not working or looking for work were deemed economically inactive, as many were suffering from long-term sickness.
The data also revealed that there was an increase in economic inactivity as compared to three months from March to May; the rate grew by 0.1% points, increasing to 20.9% from June to August.
To increase accuracy, the ONS has employed new methods to measure unemployment as it finds it challenging to gather data from certain groups. And for this reason, there was a delay in releasing the data.
However, concerns were raised by economic research firm Pantheon Macroeconomics, which stated that the experimental estimates published “questions about the reliability of the data.”
“The poor quality of this data will hamper key decisions, including the Bank of England’s on interest rates and the government’s on labor market inactivity,” the Resolution Foundation thinktank stated.
However, unemployment is surging and has been estimated to peak at 4.8% in the first three months of next year, as per Pantheon.
Regardless, it has been estimated that the Bank of England will continue to keep the interest rate at 5.25% until next month.
- Published By Team Timeswire