News

Today’s jobs figures are surprisingly poor, with a steep fall in employment and a sharp rise in those out of work, including an unexpected rise in unemployment.

Today’s jobs figures show that the labour market remains pretty subdued. The employment rate is broadly flat but still about one percentage point below where it was before the pandemic, even though unemployment has fallen back to where it was.

Today sees the first full publication of revised jobs data following revisions made to how Labour Force Survey responses are weighted.

Tony Wilson will be stepping down as the Director of the Institute for Employment Studies in October, in order to take up a new post at the Department for Work and Pensions as an Expert Adviser.

Today’s figures suggest that the labour market is continuing to cool but isn’t crashing. Employment remains steady, unemployment is flat and there are still nearly a million vacancies in the economy.

In summary, our view is that there is a lot to welcome in the new plan, with around £2.6 billion of investment in employment and related support over the next five years, particularly focused on supporting the long-term unemployed and people with significant health conditions.

November's announcement of significant investment in employment support is welcome news, but it risks being drowned out by divisive rhetoric around ‘coasters’ who want to ‘take taxpayers for a ride’.

The labour market is continuing to cool, with vacancies now down by a quarter of a million over the last year and by sixty thousand in the most recent quarter

Today was meant to see publication of the latest labour market statistics from the Labour Force Survey. Unfortunately however, issues with the reliability of the survey mean that instead only three figures were published..

IES has signed The Smallest Things’ Employer with Heart charter, which enables the parents of premature babies to take extended parental leave.