The unemployment rate was 8.4% of the economically active population, up 0.1 on the quarter. There were 2.67 million unemployed people, up 28,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate has not been higher since 1995. The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 was 23.1%, down 0.1 on the quarter. There were 9.30 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64, down 27,000 on the quarter.
Total pay (including bonuses) rose by 1.4% on a year earlier, down 0.5 on the three months to December 2011. Regular pay (excluding bonuses) rose by 1.7% on a year earlier, down 0.3 on the three months to December 2011.
The news comes as the Monster Employment Index UK published yesterday revealed a 4%increase in online job opportunities year-over-year.
The results showed IT (up 23% since 2011) supplanted engineering (up 16%) as the industry reporting the largest gains in annual online recruitment; both industries continue to be supported by growth across technician/associate level positions.
Telecommunication (up 10%) noted increased online recruitment year-over-year, following previous months of decline, and placed within the top five growth sector rankings.
Public sector, defence, community (up 5%) saw significant growth in annual online recruitment in contrast to previous months of decline.
Environment, architecture, urbanism (up 11%) exhibited further growth in annual recruitment in February, placing among the top five growth sectors.
Legal (down 15%) and Healthcare, social work (down 10%) registered the largest annual declines in recruitment activity.
Five of the nine occupational groups monitored by the Index recorded annual growth in the February Index.
Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (up 18%) exhibited the greatest annual growth in online recruitment of all occupational groups in February, a marked improvement on January’s 11% rise.
Craft and related trades (up 16%) and Plant and machine operators, and assemblers (up 16%) charted slowdowns in annual recruitment growth, in-line with trends across the manufacturing sector but nonetheless continued to exhibit elevated activity levels year-over-year.
Service and sales workers (down 9%) and Clerical support (down 7%) registered significant reductions in annual growth trends, reflecting reduced online recruitment demand across retail and general office support groups.
Elementary occupations (down 20%) continued to exhibit the lowest performance year-over-year.
The Monster Employment Index Europe is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career web sites and online job listings across Europe. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.
Julian Acquari, MD of Monster UK & Ireland, said: “While the economic outlook remains uncertain, it is encouraging to observe that more than a third of industries across the UK have exhibited annual growth in online recruitment in February. Other indicators, such as the latest ONS data, also point to positive activity across consumer and business sectors.
“However, while we’re seeing encouraging signs across particular sectors, it is clear that the British labour market remains far from robust, as evidenced by the fact that we’re seeing a low level of annual growth (4%) in the Index, as employers continue a cautious approach to hiring.”
Northern Ireland (up 17%) led all regions by measure of annual growth, supported by increased online recruitment activity across engineering and sales.
London (up 3%) noted slightly reduced activity in online recruitment year-over-year, where London regions continued to be affected by the weaker trending banking and accounting sectors.
Wales (down 10%) noted further reductions in online recruitment compared to a year ago and was the only region to report a decline for the second consecutive month.
