Manufacturing jobs slump by more than 220,000 in a year
1 min read
Despite recent signs of a slight upturn in the industrial economy, the number of people remaining at work in Britain's factories has plummeted to a new record low, according to the official labour market figures published today (16 September) by the Office for National Statistics.
The latest data showed that the number of jobs in the UK's manufacturing industries during the three months to July this year was 2.65 million – 221,000 fewer than a year ago. The only good news for the sector was that the attrition rate appears to be slowing.
Across the wider economy, the employment rate, the number of people in employment and the number of vacancies all fell while the number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the claimant count all increased. The working age employment rate was 72.5% in the three months to July 2009, putting the number of people in employment at 28.89 million, down
217,000 from the three months to April 2009 and down 600,000 on a year earlier.
The unemployment rate was 7.9 per cent making the number of unemployed people 2.47 million, up 210,000 from the three months to April 2009 and up 743,000 from a year earlier.
