The number of UK workers on payrolls rose by 69,000 between August and September to 29.7 million, the Office for National Statistics said. ONS head of labour market and household statistics David Freeman said: “The unemployment rate continues to fall and is now at its lowest for almost 50 years.
“However, the number of people neither working nor looking for work continues to rise, with those who say this is because they’re long-term sick reaching a record level.
“While the number of job vacancies remains high after its long period of rapid growth, it has now dropped back a little, with a number of employers telling us they’ve reduced recruitment due to a variety of economic pressures.
“However, because unemployment is also down, there continues to be more vacancies than unemployed people.”
Ben Harrison, Director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, a think tank for improving working lives in the UK, said: “Today’s ONS data shows that employers are struggling to fill vacancies as unemployment hits a 48-year low. We are still seeing increasing numbers not looking for work due to long-term sickness - with 107,000 extra people no longer looking for work compared to the previous quarter.
“The Government is right to focus on driving growth in the economy, but it cannot do so without tackling the UK’s participation issue. If the Prime Minister is to be true to her word on ‘taking tough decisions’, her administration should drop the rhetoric on benefit claimants needing to work harder and instead focus the full power of Government to support those who have dropped out of the labour market, including those not receiving Universal Credit.
“A cross-agency Participation Taskforce should be established to address the complex underlying health and social issues to help support more people back into work. Without targeted action, labour shortages will impact the UK economy’s prospects of growth.”
