July's unemployment figures

The latest figures supplied by the Office of National Statistics are initially encouraging.  Unemployment fell by 26,000 in the last quarter to 2.45 million or 7.7% of the workforce.  But look more closely and there are curious developments beneath the headline figure.

First, those employed people working part-time because they could not find full-time job employment increased by 80,000 on the quarter to reach 1.25 million.  Second, the level of economic inactivity rose slightly, largely due to the number of students coming out of education to boost these figures.

It all points to a long, hard slog to reach the labour market conditions we enjoyed five years or so ago.  In the meantime, most folks seem to be feeling the squeeze and getting on with things the best they can.