Employment statistics for youth...

Labour Market Statistics show strong youth labour market performance

Youth unemployment decreased by 3.6 percentage points over the last year to 9.4 per cent, the lowest youth unemployment rate since the series began, and below the UK. Scotland now has the 2^nd lowest youth unemployment rate in the EU. Despite rising by 0.4 percentage points over the last quarter, Scotland’s overall unemployment rate also fell by 0.4 percentage points over the year to 5.1 per cent, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.

Female employment hits an all-time high as wage growth rises, according to the latest government figures

The Office for National Statistics reported that 69.9% of women aged from 16-64 were in work in the three months to November, compared to 69.1% a year earlier, and the highest female employment rate since records began in 1971.
Wage levels, excluding bonuses, rose by an annual rate of 2.7% in the same period - the strongest increase since August 2015. With bonuses included, the increase was 2.8%.

Labour market statistics – January 2017

1. Unemployment is 1,604,000, down 12,000 from last month’s published figure (quarterly headline down 52,000) and the unemployment rate is 4.8%, no change on last month.
2. The number of claimant unemployed is 797,800, down 10,100 on last month, and the claimant rate is 2.3%.
3. The number of workless young people (not in employment, full-time education or training) is 1,014,000, down 5,000 on the quarter, representing 14.1% of the youth population (down 0.1 percentage points).
4. There are 2.1 unemployed people per vacancy.
5. The employment rate is 74.5% (up 0.1 percentage points on last month’s published figure and down 0.1 percentage points in the preferred quarterly measure).

The latest Treasury survey of independent forecasters, showed that their current expectation is for modest economic growth of 1.4% and modest employment growth of just 0.2% in 2017.

Good news for the finance sector

Professional Vacancies Up Slightly
Professional recruitment firms in the UK now have 1% more vacancies on their books than this time last year according to new survey data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).

The data shows that vacancies within the finance and accounting sectors increased by 10.2%, while engineering vacancies decreased by 14% year-on-year. Furthermore, temporary and contract vacancies have increased across the professional staffing market with opportunities up by 1% year-on-year. Vacancies within finance and accounting increased by 29%.

Employees Working From Home Up 19%

The number of employees in the UK who say they usually work from home has increased by 19% over the past decade according to new analysis published by the TUC.

The analysis shows that 241,000 more people work from home than 10 years ago. The biggest growth in regular home working has been among women employees, with 35% (157,000) more working from home in 2015 than in 2005. However, men still account for the majority of homeworkers, with 912,000 regularly working from home in 2015, compared to 609,000 women. Older employees are more likely to work from home, with 454,000 in their 40s and 414,000 in their 50s home-working.