when they say employment is going down

[nicespam]

does that take into consideration people living off redundancy payments?

[meditrina]

They count (I don't know how) the number of people in jobs. This has gone up, a lot in the last quarter. Reports on lunchtime news said we've just had one of the biggest ever drops in unemployment.

But they also count the number claiming JSA - this has also gone up a bit.

Other adults who don't fall into these categories are classed an economically inactive (which would include those living off redundancy payments).

I'm not sure what this means in terms of the overall picture (perhaps there will be more analysis on the evening news). But it suggests that:
a) more jobs have been created, and
b) more people are actively seeking work (whether through choice or change in benefit availability).

[sassyTHEFIRST]

Lots of part-time jobs as replacement for fulltime ones lost I reckon.

[meditrina]

sassy: do you have a link? Thanks!

[darleneoconnor]

The numbers claiming JSA are only some of the out of work and looking for work people. eg if you have a partner who works you only get JSA for 6 months, then you are counted as a SAHP.
It also doesn't count people on incapacity benefit and Employment Support allowance who are actively ooking for work, or young OAPs who would take a job if they could find one, or student who cant find jobs over the holidays.

there are loads of groups of people who 'slip through the net'.

[Ryoko]

I don't understand it, 88,000 drop in unemployment, 80,000 increase in employment (what happened to the other 8,000?) increase in numbers claiming JSA it doesn't make any sense to me........

Sooo 8,000 left the country, hit 65 or gave up?, 80,000 new jobs but all for immigrants or school/uni leavers?.

[HHLimbo]

meditrina - the number of people 'in work' was estimated based on a survey (yougov type thing) whereas the JSA claimants are the actual numbers.

"in employment" can mean a variety of things that are not full time, as sassy pointed out. It includes part time workers who want to work full time, it includes self employed who may not be making a wage, etc.

[HHLimbo]

The government also have a scheme for JSA claimants to register as self employed for a trial period, so they would be classed as "self employed" but would actually be living on JSA.

[meditrina]

I was wondering if there was any information about how many jobs were estimated to be part time (so we can see if it is a significant proportion).