UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS IN UK

Changes of Unemployment Statistics in United Kingdom



Changes of Unemployment Statistics in United Kingdom

Unemployment

Unemployment can be explicated as the inactivity of a person seeking work. This definition of unemployment has many variations, and the concept nevertheless gives rise to controversy and theoretical statistics (Haugen & Musser, 2011, pp. 118).

The ILO expounds unemployed persons (over 15) who meet the following criteria:

"Being unemployed", that is to say, have no activity, even minimal, during the reference week;

"Available for work", that is to say, be able to accept any job opportunity that presents itself in two weeks, without a third requirement;

"Actively seeking a job, or have found one that starts later."

How Unemployment Statistics is collected

The data on unemployment is collected through Labour Force Survey (LFS). This surveying process is done quarterly. The government has decided a specific size of the sample that includes 60,000 households. This survey results are then compiled to reflect the number of people unemployed, and it depicts other characteristics of them.

Unemployment in UK

The following graph explicates the increasing trend of unemployment in United Kingdom. This trend portrays the economic inactivity of the people of United States. The number of people unemployed in 1976 was around 6,700,000, while this figure has increased to more than 8,000,000 in 2010.

Britain has increased by almost one million unemployed since 2007, to almost 2.5 million, a rate of 7.7%. The numbers have stabilized in 2010, however, with even a slight decline in the first half. From May to August (the latest figures), the number of unemployed fell by 20,000 to 2.44 million. Employment was also a surprise, with an increase of 178,000 people that make 29.1 million. These figures confirm the surprise that has been evident during this crisis the British labour market. If unemployment rose sharply, it is at a level much lower than what was expected in view of the magnitude of the decline in GDP (Black, 2010, pp.49). The explanation comes in large part on how employees have accepted wage cuts, or elimination of benefits, rather than see their posts removed.

Comparison with Other European Union Countries and US

The graph shown below delineates the comparison of United Kingdom with other European Union countries and US. Spain showed the highest level of employment in 2010, while the unemployment rate of United Kingdom remains between Sweden and Slovenia.

Historical Changes in Unemployment

During the first quarter of 1995, there were 2.5 million unemployed in the UK, according to the ILO definition, or 8.8% of the population active. The unemployment rate decreases with qualifications for both men women. The evolution of the unemployment rate from 1960 to 2008 in the United Kingdom can be seen in the chart above. One can research that, during the sixties, unemployment was almost nonexistent that was around 2%, which implies full employment. From 1980, the unemployment grows to an unemployment rate of almost 12%. This may be due to reason that since the mid-70's, there were sharp social conflicts, resulting in critical strikes. Also, the problem of unemployment had to add the problem of ...