Unemployment down

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Here's some bright festive news - unemployment is at its lowest for more than three years.

Figures measuring people registered as unemployed at the end of November showed that there were 1,450 people out of work – but the seasonally-adjusted figure that irons out ups and downs throughout the year shows the lowest total since September 2011.

The figures showed:

• There were 1,450 people registered as out of work.
• Of those, 232 had been out of work for a year or more.
• The total also included 220 teenagers aged between 16 and 19.

The figures for people registered with the Social Security department as being “actively seeking work” do not cover all unemployed people, just those who have taken the step of registering.

The last formal count was made by the Jersey Annual Social Survey in June – it recorded that there were around 2,800 people who were out of work and looking for a job.

That figure, worked out in accordance with International Labour Organisation standards, gives an unemployment rate of 4.6% - significantly down on the 5.7% recorded the year before.

Jersey’s unemployment rate of 4.6% compares to 6% in the UK, 1.1% in Guernsey and a rate of 10.4% in France earlier this year.