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Jobless total falls again

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By Lee Wild

Date: Wednesday 16 Apr 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Unemployment fell by 39,000 in the UK during the three months to February and by 90,000 year on year, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed today.

The wider ILO measure of unemployment showed 1.61m were out of a job during the period, while the unemployment rate was 5.2%, down 0.1% on the previous three months.

Meanwhile, the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance dropped by 1,200 to 794,300 in March, the lowest figure since June 1975 and 110,600 less than a year ago.

A seasonal review led to the figure for February being revised up to show an increase of 600 on the month, the first rise since September 2006, versus the 2,800 drop initially reported.

There were also fewer redundancies during the three months, with the number down 17,000 on the previous period to 106,000, the lowest figure since comparable records began in 1995.

But manufacturers remain under pressure, with employment in the sector falling 27,000 in the three months to February to 2.9m, the lowest figure since records began in 1978.

The report also showed average earnings including bonuses climbed 3.7% in the year to February, 0.2% lower than the month before. The figure rose 0.1% to 3.8% when bonuses are included.

Elsewhere today, a report from US investment bank JP Morgan warned that 40,000 jobs could go in the City, around 5% of all jobs in the Square Mile.

JPM’s figure is double the 20,000 estimated by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

That won’t be well received by those who’ve piled on the debt as another report forecast the number of people going bust or taking out individual voluntary agreements (IVAs) will double in 2008 to 600,000.