Unemployment was rising before coronavirus hit, figures reveal
UK job vacancies dived in the three months to March as the labour market contracted in the face of coronavirus, new figures have revealed.
Economists also revealed on Tuesday that unemployment increased by 22,000 to 1.36 million in the three months to February, before Covid-19 gripped the UK.
For the West Midlands unemployment was up 9,000 to 142,000 in the three months – an unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent. Numbers in work in the region were down from 2.82m to 2.81m with the employment rate at 75.3 per cent.
The Office for National Statistics said the number of job vacancies nationally plunged by 52,000 to 795,000 for the quarter.
It said the manufacturing and retail sectors reported the largest decline in hiring over the period.
The ONS also revealed that growth in the number of people on British companies' payrolls slowed to 0.8 per cent in March from 1.1 per cent in February, according to preliminary tax data.
Meanwhile, employment for the quarter to February jumped by 352,000 against the same period last year, rising to a record high of 33.07m.
It said this was heavily driven by a jump in the number of women in work, which rose by 318,000 to a record high of 15.73m.
The number of people in work increased by 172,000 against the previous quarter, ahead of the increase of 100,000 predicted by analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The numbers claiming unemployment benefits, including Universal Credit, in the West Midlands last month were up 2,805 to 145,065, or four per cent of the working population.
Wolverhampton saw the claimant count rise by 280 to 10,420, or 6.4 per cent of the working population, Sandwell saw it rise by 355 to 10,845, or 5.3 per cent, Walsall was up 310 to 8,625, or five per cent, and Dudley was up by 125 to 8,570, or 4.4 per cent.
For Staffordshire there was an increase of 150 to 12,110, a rate of 2.3 per cent. Cannock Chase was up five to 1,665, or 2.6 per cent, Stafford saw an increase of 70 to 1,670, or two per cent, Lichfield rose by 25 or 1,320, or 2.1 per cent, and South Staffordshire had a rise of 15 to 1,330, or two per cent.
Wyre Forest, including Kidderminster, was up five to 1,590, or 2.7 per cent.
The ONS also said earnings growth slowed to 2.8 per cent in February, falling from 3.1 per cent growth in January.
David Freeman, ONS head of labour market statistics, said: "Our final data wholly from before the coronavirus restrictions were in place showed the labour market was very robust in the three months to February.
"For the first time, we have brought forward information on the number of employees in work using PAYE data to cover a more recent period.
"These experimental statistics show a softening picture in March but cover the month as a whole including the period before the coronavirus restrictions were in place."
Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said: "Early figures for March underscore the impact Covid-19 is likely to have on the labour market.
"An additional spike in unemployment after the lockdown also seems likely, once government support via the Job Retention Scheme ends.
"While the unemployment rate in 2020 could average below the rate the UK suffered in the recessions of 1980s, 1990s and 2008-09, this is due to the historically low level of unemployment in the UK prior to the current crisis.
"The rise in unemployment is expected to be proportionally larger than in past recessions owing to the severity of the crisis."
