LONDON: Britain’s employment rate is at the joint highest level since records began in 1971 as evidence that the economy is strengthening. Employment increased by 103,000 in the three months to December, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), driving the employment rate to 73.2%, as the economy continued to grow.
Speaking at the Rolls Royce car factory in Goodwood, Sussex where the luxury car firm has just announced plans to build an SUV, Cameron said: “I’m not saying we have solved all our problems in the British economy in the last four and a half years, but we are on our way.”
The ONS said that this figure was higher than the pre-crisis peak of 73%, recorded in early 2008, and has only been matched once, in 2005, since records began more than 30 years ago.
The prime minister has said he wants to create full employment, and the latest rise will boost his hopes of stoking a feelgood factor in the runup to the general election in May.
The ONS pointed out that the record employment rate for women, at 68.5%, partly reflected the increase in the state pension age, “resulting in fewer women retiring between the ages of 60 and 65”.
Unemployment fell by 97,000 over the three-month period to 1.86 million, the ONS said, and average wages rose at the fastest pace since mid-2013. The unemployment rate continued to decline, to 5.7%.
