Justin Welcomes Strong Employment Figures

North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson has welcomed another set of strong employment figures, showing the strength of the UK economy.

Figures released by the Office of National Statistics show that the UK’s employment rate stands at 76%, up from 75.6% this time last year. The employment rate for women stands at 72%, which is the highest since records began.

There are 354,000 more people in employment than last year, with the increase being mainly due to full-time jobs.

The number of people unemployed has fallen by 116,000 people over the last year, and by 820,000 over the past 5 year – the largest fall over the last 5 years has been in people unemployed for more than a year. The number of young people not employed has halved since 2010, falling by 446,000.

The average weekly wage has risen by 3.6% - rising at their fastest pace in 11 years. The rises in wages has been backed by the Government’s work to improve the cost of living, which has included:

• Increasing the personal allowance to £12,500 a year early so that 32 million people can keep more of what they earn, as well as cutting income tax for 32 million people. An average rate taxpayer is paying £1,205 less tax this year than in 2010-11.

• Increasing the national Living Wage which has taken the proportion of jobs that are low paid to its lowest level since 1986. The introduction of the National Living Wage has pushed up hourly pay –  and the proportion of people on low pay fell below 20 per cent for the first time since 1986 and has continued to fall since, with almost 200,000 workers lifted out of low pay last year.

Justin Tomlinson MP said: “The Government’s balanced approach to the economy continues to have a positive impact – with a record number of people in employment and wages rising at their fastest rate for 11 years. I am delighted that in addition to this, the Government is ensuring that work pays, and people can feel the benefit of rising wages.”