Work Foundation: job creation may have slowed

The unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.2% on April to June 2012 and down 0.4% on a year earlier.

There were 2.51 million unemployed people, down 49,000 on April to June 2012 and down 110,000 on a year earlier.

Commenting on today’s labour market statistics, Charles Levy, senior economist, at The Work Foundation, said:

“The labour market has again turned in another strong set of numbers.

"The private sector is continuing to create new jobs, and unemployment is falling.

"These statistics paint a picture of an economy in recovery, which is difficult to reconcile with the weakness of the economy over the last year.

"One consequence of this mismatch is the ongoing fall in wages, which will be exacerbated by yesterday’s surprisingly high inflation figure.

“There are some suggestions that the pace of job creation may have slowed in the last couple of months."

Mr Levy said that an Olympics boost may be temporary.

He added: "Today’s statistics also underline the fact that we are moving in a very different direction to the rest of the European Union. The health of our neighbours still presents a serious risk to any recovery. While the Chancellor can be encouraged by these headlines, he must focus on how to strengthen growth in the face of these risks as he prepares for next month’s Autumn Statement.”

Employment minister Mark Hoban said there had been another drop in the number of people unemployed, youth unemployment is falling again for the second month running.

"There are still some real challenges out there," he told the BBC.

"We need to tackle the challenge of long-term unemployment and we need to get more people into work. There's a real challenge here about getting young people into work. Many young people do find it easy to get a job but there are some, particularly those with low qualifications who do find it a real challenge."