UK unemployment and claimant count fall - What the pro's are saying

The Office for National Statistics have today reported that UK unemployment fell by 57,000 to 2.51 million in the three months to May.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in June fell by 21,200 to 1.48 million. This fall was the fastest rate in three years.

Views on today's employment data

Richard Northedge at Director of Finance Online says:

"How low can the jobless figures go? The risk is that having had a low peak, unemployment does not drop much further, staying high when the economy returns to real growth. But had it been worse during the five years we would be in a worse situation now and that return to real growth would be further away."

Neil Carberry, CBI Director for Employment and Skills, said:

“Unemployment rates are still high, but there are some encouraging signs in this jobs data that support the more upbeat mood in the economy.

“More people are getting full-time work, fewer people are signing on, and pay levels are starting to rise.

"It's important to remember that employment typically lags economic performance and, as the economy picks up, we'd expect to see an improvement in the jobs market."

John Allan, the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) National Chairman, said:

"We have been seeing the same picture on unemployment for the past number of months but this quarters figures show some firm signs the labour market is moving in the right direction.

"Youth unemployment is down. Female unemployment is down. Overall unemployment is down. This is good news. The FSB’s Small Business Index also suggests cause for optimism with small firms expecting to take on staff in the coming three months – even if growth in hiring is not as strong as we would like.

"However, long term unemployment remains a deep concern, standing higher than it has been in over 17 years. At present, there are few financial incentives for employers to take on disadvantaged job seekers such as the long term unemployed. It’s time for the Government to review the balance of incentives that currently exist between Work Programme providers and employers.”