Mixed news on jobs front

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Unemployment figures out this morning have shown mixed results – there has been a marginal rise in the number of people out of work, but seasonally-adjusted figures show the number of unemployed is at its lowest in two-and-a-half years.

The figures compiled by the States’ statistics unit show that the actual number of people registered as “actively seeking work” was 1,520, ten more than last month. But the independent unit also publishes a seasonally-adjusted figure that accounts for changes that take place every year – that figure shows the lowest figure since December 2011.

The numbers, for the month leading up to 31 July, show that:

-          There were 780 men and 740 women registered as “actively seeking work”.

-          That total of 1,520 is 500 fewer than the peak around 18 months ago.

-          There were 260 teenagers between 16 and 19 registered – new school leavers added 70 to that figure.

-          Of the 1,520 total, 28% were under 25 and 17% were between 16 and 19.

-          Of the total, 49% had been registered for three months or less and 16% had been registered for a year or more.

-          82% of those registered were from Britain or Jersey.

Registration as “actively seeking work” is not compulsory, so the States use the figures to measure trends in the economy rather than the absolute number of people looking for a job.

The most recent measure of total unemployment was for June last year – according to standard rules used by the International Labour Organisation, Jersey’s unemployment rate then was 5.7%, meaning that 3,200 people were unemployed and looking for work.

Following the trend shown by the ASW figures, that probably means that the number of people actually out of work now is something like 2,600.