The July unemployment figures for the Devizes constituency issued on Wednesday (August 14) show little change against the previous month’s figures and overall a small improvement over the last year.
The total number in the constituency claiming job seekers allowance (JSA) in July was down by nine people on June’s total and 97 down on July 2012.
The claimant total for the constituency was 901 – which is significantly below the figure of 993 for July 2010.
Youth unemployment – those aged between 18 and 24 – was up by 15 claimants on June’s figure and down 15 on July 2012. Nationally during April-June the unemployment rate for this age group was 21.4 per cent compared to 21.5 per cent a year ago.
National figures show a fall between June and July in the number of people claiming JSA of 29,200 to 1,440,000. This is the lowest monthly claim count since February 2009.
The Office for National Statistics does not say how far this drop is due to stricter rules in allowing payment of the JSA.
For those in work the months April-June saw a rise in regular pay (that excludes bonuses) of 1.1 per cent – against inflation of 2.8 per cent by the consumer price index and 3.1 per cent by the retail price index.
The new Governor of the Bank of England has given added significance to the unemployment figures by setting seven per cent as the rate to trigger an increase in interest rates. The national rate is currently 7.8 per cent.
However, the focus has shifted to include the under-employment rate. The only figures we have for this are the monthly numbers for those who take part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time ones.
During April-June 2013 this stood at 1,430,000 people. That is up by 25,000 on the same quarter in the previous year.
Those on zero hours contracts who may or may not be called to work on a given day and are paid only for the days they do work, are counted as being in work.
Whether those working under zero hours contracts (or similar restricted hours contracts) number a quarter of a million or one million is disputed. Under-employment seems to be a problem that exists beneath the government’s radar.
