Employment rate drops by 0.2% for quarter to October

The UK employment rate for people aged between 16 and 64 fell between August and October.

According to new statistics from Office for National Statistics, the figure stood at 70.3 per cent at the end of the period, down 0.2 percentage points on the quarter.

This equated to 29.11 million people in employment aged 16 and over, which marked a drop of 63,000.

However, there was actually a rise of 5,000 to 23.12 million in the number employed by the private sector, while the public sector saw a decline of 67,000 to stand at 5.99 million.

The government's statistics department estimates that unemployment is currently at its highest level since 1996, with the actual number of unemployed people as large as it has been since 1994.

On a positive not, typical regular pay (excluding bonuses) rose by 1.8 per cent compared to a year earlier and by 0.1 per cent compared to the three month period ending September 2011.

Total pay including bonuses rose by two per cent on a year earlier, but was down 0.3 per cent for the August to October period compared to July to September.ADNFCR-2318-ID-801240858-ADNFCR