Unemployment rate in the South West unchanged as UK sees an overall 0.1% fall

The South West continues to see one of the UK's highest rates of employment, despite a slight fall in employment of 0.7% to 73.9% in the period from May to July. The rate of unemployment for the region remained unchanged at 6.2%.

The Office for National Statistics has released both national and regional figures for the last financial quarter.

The overall UK unemployment rate dropped by 0.1% from the previous quarter, from 7.8% to 7.7%, though a number of variations can be seen around the country, with some areas experiencing rising unemployment.

The figure moves a touch closer to the 7% target set by Bank of England governor Mark Carney, which he believes may indicate the economy is strong enough to withstand a rise in interest rates, currently at a record low of 0.5%.

Labour leader Ed Miliband highlighted the regional variations at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons and criticised Chancellor George Osborne's recent upbeat message on the economy:

"The chancellor went out and said he had saved the economy," he said, describing it as "total complacency and total hubris... at a time when, even today, unemployment is rising in half the country".

But the Prime Minister, David Cameron attacked Labour:

"They told us that unemployment would go up and not down. They told us that the growth of private sector jobs would never make up for the loss of [public] sector jobs," he said.

"They have been wrong on every single one of those issues."

UK unemployment figures

Employment rate highest in the South East (76.0%) and lowest in the North East (67.2%).
Unemployment rate highest in the North East (10.4%) and lowest in the South East (5.8%).
Inactivity rate highest in the North West (24.9%) and lowest in the East of England (19.0%).
Claimant Count rate highest in the North East (6.8%) and lowest in the South East (2.5%).

The rate of unemployment in the UK overall dropped to 7.7% between May and July from 7.8% in the previous three months.

The region with the highest rate in Great Britain was the North East at 10.4% followed by the West Midlands at 9.8% and Yorkshire and The Humber at 8.9%. The regions with the lowest rate were the South East at 5.8%, followed by the South West at 6.2% and the East of England at 6.7%.

The regions with the largest decrease in the unemployment rate on the previous period (February to April 2013) were the South East at 0.7 percentage points followed by the East Midlands which decreased by 0.5 percentage points. The unemployment rate in the North West increased by 0.4 percentage points followed by the West Midlands, North East and Scotland which all increased by 0.3 percentage points. The UK rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points.

UK employment figures

The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 71.6%, up 0.2 percentage points from February to April 2013 and up 0.4 from a year earlier. There were 29.84 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 80,000 from February to April 2013 and up 275,000 from a year earlier.
The unemployment rate was 7.7% of the economically active population, down 0.1 percentage points from February to April 2013 and down 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. There were 2.49 million unemployed people aged 16 and over, down 24,000 from February to April 2013 and down 105,000 from a year earlier.
The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 22.3%, down 0.1 percentage points from February to April 2013 and down 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier. There were 8.96 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 33,000 from February to April 2013 and down 52,000 from a year earlier.
Total pay rose by 1.1% compared with May to July 2012. Regular pay rose by 1.0% over the same period.

The employment rate for those aged 16 to 64 for the three months to July 2013 compared to the three months to April 2013, showed a few large changes for the regions and countries of the UK.

The largest increase in the employment rate was for the South East at 1.3 percentage points, followed by the East of England at 0.9 percentage points. Both increases follow long periods of the employment rate being flat for these regions and may be partially the result of sampling variability, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS reports that the largest decrease in the employment rate was for the North West which decreased by 1.0 percentage points, followed by the West Midlands at 0.8 percentage points. Both decreases appear to be part of a pattern of falling employment rates, although the underlying pattern appears to suggest that the decreases are more gradual than shown in the latest figures.

Employment rates remain higher in the South East at 76.0%, East of England at 75.4% and South West at 73.9% than the rest of the UK.

The employment levels for London and the South East are at record highs, although the rates remain below record levels due to increasing population numbers.

Regional figures for the unemployment rate are quite volatile, which needs to be allowed for when considering the pattern of change over time.

The largest decreases in the unemployment rate for the three months to July 2013 compared to the three months to April 2013 were for Northern Ireland at 0.9 percentage points followed by the South East at 0.7 percentage points.

There were no notably large increases in unemployment for any of the regions of the UK.

The unemployment rate for the North East remains the highest in the UK at 10.4%, followed by the West Midlands at 9.8%.

The Claimant Count for August 2013 compared with July 2013 is showing decreases in the count for both men and women across all regions of the UK. The decreases are of a similar size in all regions except for Northern Ireland, which is decreasing at a slower rate than the rest of the UK.