Unemployment falls but Wales' economy a worry

WALES has seen a fall in unemployment, bucking a rise for the UK as whole which has seen the level climb to the highest rate for four years - but persistently high economic inactivity continues to be a major drag on the Welsh economy.

- SION BARRY

There are concerns that the impact of increased employer national insurance contributions from April will see the unemployment rate for the UK as a whole continuing to rise in the months ahead. It comes as the number of payrolled workers in the UK dropped by more than 100,000 in May on April.

According to the ONS, in Wales the unemployment rate from February to April was down on November to January by 0.7% to 4.7% (a reduction of 9,000 to 73,000 people). While down on the quarter, the unemployment rate in Wales on a year earlier is up 1.2% (22,000).

For the UK it was up 0.2% to 4.6% on the quarter.

While the employment rate among 16 to 64-year-olds in Wales was 2.3% up on the previous year and 3.2% on the year, it remains below the UK average of 75.1% at 72.2%. In England the employment rate is 75.1%, Scotland 75% and Northern Ireland 71.7%.

The rate of working-age adults in Wales classified as being economically inactive is 24.4% (470,000 people).

For the UK as a whole, the economic inactive rate is 21.3% with 9.18 million people. Of the nations and regions of the UK, it is only higher in the north-east of England (28.1%) and Northern Ireland (26.9%).

Other data from the ONS for May show that the number of payrolled employees in the UK fell 0.9% on a year earlier to 30.2 million, the equivalent of 274,0 employees. While provisional figures, the number was down 109,000 on April. The number of paid employees in Wales fell more than 5,000 on April.