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A report that was issued by the Office for National Statistics said that employment opportunities, employment, as well as the average earnings have fallen in the United Kingdom as of May.

The rate of unemployment increased to 7.1% which equates to around 2.22 million people and in the last quarter alone, an additional 244,000 people lost their jobs. Jobless claims increased and now 1.51 people are looking to make claims on the benefits. Worse yet, those who have been unable to find work (but are actively seeking it) for 12 months or more reached 506,000 at the end of 2008.

There is a difference between public and private sector jobs due to the fact that public sector jobs in the UK have been expanding and private sector jobs have been diminishing over the past year. The public sector saw an increase of 15,000 while the private sector has lost 13,000 jobs when compared to September 2008. Similarly, in the United States, many jobs have been created in the public sector thanks to some of the stimulus spending that has been put forth. Private sector jobs here are becoming quite hard to come by, but it is looking as though there will be some kind of break in the clouds in the future.

In the UK, the number of people who have been working in the manufacturing field has decreased 160,000 to 2.73 million people as of March 2009. Non seasonally adjusted employment for those born in the United Kingdom was down 451,000 while employment among those not born in the UK has increased to 3.81 million between January and March 2009, an increase of 129,000.

Those in the 18-24 age range have been hit the hardest by unemployment in the United Kingdom. There are 676,000 people in that age range that are simply unable to find work.

There were also 13.1 million hours lost in the number of hours worked between January and March 2009. The average number of hours worked per week per employee also fell from 31.6 to 31.3 hours per week. This can be attributed to the lack of overtime opportunities as well as short time working.

The United Kingdom is obviously having some of the same issues that we are facing in the United States. With unemployment up and average salaries falling or staying the same (even with increases in the cost of living), people are having a hard time making ends meet. The world has hit a recession and these two countries aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch. It will likely be months or over a year before some kind of turnaround happens. Some are saying that it will take years before our economy is back to where it was before this recession. I sincerely hope that it will be back to normal soon.

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Jeremy

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