While a reasonable number of Britons are returning to work, employment figures indicate that the UK job market is still operating at pre-recession levels. Over 2.51 million Britons were still out of work, as of April, new figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal.
Over 24,000 people entered the job market in the three months to April, gaining a foothold in a growing market for workers in the UK. Despite the job growth, official unemployment figures pointed to an employment rate that hasn’t changed from its 7.8 percent reading – a figure that’s identical to early 2013 levels.
What’s more worrying than the flat unemployment figure, however, is the growing number of people aged over 65 that continue to work. Over one million people over the age of 65 still work in the UK – a figure that’s the highest on record. The Office for National Statistics began recording age-related job statistics in the early 1970s.
Other issues for the UK economy include a sluggish increase in remuneration, with the average worker’s salary increasing at a rate that beat inflation. CPA data shows that prices are increasing by approximately 2.4 percent per year, while salaries are up just 1.3 percent per year, as many workers opt to defer their bonuses.
The data brings to light an issue that could continue to affect the economy: as more professionals choose to stay in their roles well into their sixties, the number of new opportunities is decreasing relative to overall job growth. Many of the people most hurt by the change in employment demographics are recent university graduates.
In the last twenty years, the number of over-65s working has more than doubled. A large number of these workers will need to continue working until they are 70 years old, according to pensions minister Steve Webb.
