Unemployment at four year high as job vacancies fall
Unemployment reached 4.7% in the three months to June, while the number of job vacancies fell by 44,000 in roughly the same period, with the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors hardest hit.
The number of payrolled employees fell by 66,000, with an estimated 26,000 drop between May and June, the data released on Tuesday showed.
Wage growth remained at 5%, in real terms, a 1.5% rise once inflation is taken into account, due to an uptick in the cost of living in recent months.
Rachel Reeves said more needed to be done to support people seeking training and skills to enter the UK workforce.
ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: 'Taken together, these latest figures point to a continued cooling of the labour market.
'The number of employees on payroll has now fallen in 10 of the last 12 months, with these falls concentrated in hospitality and retail.
'Job vacancies, likewise, have continued to fall, also driven by fewer opportunities in these industries.'
Speaking from Belfast on Tuesday, the Chancellor Rachel Reeevs said: "Although the number of people who are unemployed increased slightly... The number of people who are economically inactive actually fell by much more."
Reeves highlighted the "encouraging" news that this meant more people were seeking employment than before, but added there was "more to do," as she restated the government's commitment to ensure people had the skills they needed to fill the available vacancies.
The Conservatives were quick to blame Labour's increase in employers' national insurance contributions for the unemployment figures.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claimed the Conservatives had warned that the policy would lead to job losses, and further tax rises were now inevitable in the chancellor's autumn budget.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith defended the government's policies, highlighting the government's commitment to increasing opportunities for young people seeking training to enter the workforce.
Smith said Labour's plan for job creation went hand-in-hand with her department's intention to build more houses in the UK.
On Tuesday, she named the locations for ten technical excellence colleges across England. The government hope these colleges will train more than 40,000 builders, electricians, carpenters and plumbers to build the one and a half million new houses promised by Labour.
The Department for Education said the initiative was part of reducing its reliance on foreign labour.
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