North Swindon MP and DWP Minister Justin Tomlinson MP has welcomed news that employment is at a record high.
Statistics from the Office of National Statistics show that the employment rate is 75.8%, the highest since records began. There are now 32.56 million people in the UK in employment, 328,000 more than this time last year.
The number of people in full-time work has increased by 367,000, while the number of people in part-time work has decreased 39,000 in the last year – meaning the annual increase in the number of people in employment is down entirely to full time employment.
The number of people looking for work and unable to find it is also at a 40 year low. This has been facilitated by a 300,000 increase the number of job vacancies over the last year. There were 853,000 job vacancies last year, a joint record high.
The unemployment rate is at a record low of 4% – halving since 2010. Youth unemployment is also down.
Locally, both unemployment and youth unemployment have halved since 2010, and there are over 11,000 more people in work across Swindon.
Justin Tomlinson MP said: “This is fantastic news and shows the Government’s balanced approach to the economy is working. More people are working and feeling the benefits of rising wages. A Labour Government would jeopardise this good work - every Labour government has left office with unemployment higher than it was when it came into government.”
