Latest employment figures show a degree of stability

11th September 2018

Unemployment in the East Midlands has remained more or less consistent since December 2016 according to figures released today by the Office for National Statistics.

The unemployment rate for the three months to the end of July this year was 4.1%. It has fluctuated by no more than 0.2% month-on-month since December 2016.

According to the figures released this morning, the number of people in work in the East Midlands was 35,523 higher in the three months to the end of July 2018 than for the same three months in 2017.

Compared with the three months to the end of April, the employment figure was down by 25,182 at 2,278,202.

The number of people registered as unemployed increased by 298 from 96,050 to 96,348 quarter-on-quarter.

There was also a small rise in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, which increased by 355 from 35,260 to 35,615 in August compared with July.

Chris Hobson, Director of Policy at East Midlands Chamber* said: “The Government position, based on national figures, is that there has been little change in the levels of unemployment in the past year or so, and certainly here in the East Midlands we seem to have plateaued.

“There are fluctuations though, and in recent months it would be fair to say that the figures have been slightly on the negative side. But as we move closer to knowing what our long term future will be it’s reassuring to see that many local companies are still revising their recruitment plans positively and investing in staff.

“It will be interesting to see how the figures change over the next six months or so as we move towards and into a post-Brexit economy.”

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