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UK unemployment up three months running

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By Lee Wild

Date: Wednesday 14 May 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Unemployment rose for the third month in a row in April, with a 7,200 increase on the previous month to 806,300, surprising analysts who had predicted no change.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revealed that the number of unemployed people grew by 14,000 in the three months to March from the final quarter of 2007 to 1.61 million.

The initial estimate of a 1,200 drop in the claimant count for March has been revised up to show an increase of 3,600, meaning the number receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance has grown for three consecutive months.

But the number of people in work during the first quarter climbed by 117,000 to 29.54m, the highest since comparable records began back in 1971.

There were 111,000 redundancies during the three months, the same as the previous quarter.

Jobs in the manufacturing sector fell by 27,000, or 0.9%, in the period to 2.9m, the worst figure since records began in 1978.

Today’s report also showed that average earnings excluding bonuses grew an annual 3.8%, as expected, although that figure hit 4%, up from 3.7% in March, when bonuses are counted.

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