Unemployment in Wales falls to 4%

THE latest jobs figures show that unemployment in Wales has fallen to just 4% – down from 6% two years earlier.

There were just 60,000 people aged 16-plus on the dole in Wales in the three months to August, compared with 91,000 in 2015. During the last two years the number of men out of work has dropped from 58,000 to 35,000, while the figure for women has gone from 32,000 to 25,000.

Unemployment also fell at a UK level but there is concern that wages are lagging behind inflation.

Average earnings increased by 2.2% in the year to August. This was below the latest inflation rates of 3.9% (RPI) and 3% (CPI).

Stephen Clarke of the Resolution Foundation said: “These figures confirm the big picture trend that the UK labour market is great at creating jobs, but terrible at raising people’s pay.

“The scale of the pay squeeze over the last decade is so vast that people today are earning no more than they did back in February 2006, despite the economy being 4.4% bigger per person since then.”

UK Employment Minister Damian Hinds said: “We’ve boosted the income for people on the lowest pay by increasing the national living wage and delivered the fastest pay rise for the lowest earners in 20 years.

“That’s great progress and we’re determined to help more people.”