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Jobless rate in surprise rise

Wednesday, 15 July 2015 10:03 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 15 July 2015 12:35 PM ]

The UK Office for National Statistics said the number of jobless people increased by 15,000 people in the quarter ending in May.

Officials figures suggest that unemployment rate in Britain has jumped to 5.6 percent in the quarter ending in May.

The Office for National Statistics announced that UK jobless rate climbed from 5.5 percent in the quarter ending in February to 5.6 percent in the quarter ending in May.

According to the statement by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of jobless people increased by 15,000 people in the same period.

The latest job losses brought to 1.85 million the number of unemployed people in Briton.

This is seen as the first quarterly rise since March 2013.

"It's possible that the rate of improvement in the labour market that we have seen over the last three years may have eased off, though it is too early to be certain," ONS statistician Nick Palmer was quoted as saying by the British media.

The ONS figures indicated that there were nearly 31 million people in work in the March-to-May quarter. The figure was down 67,000 from the previous three-month period and the first quarterly fall since April 2013.

Meanwhile, a London-based economic expert says the recent rise in unemployment shows that economic recovery is still “fragile” and should be seen as a “wake-up call” for the British policy makers.

“It’s a shock. It actually shows that the UK economic recovery is still quite fragile. There are still problems with the British economy which need to be addressed. This should be a wake-up call for policy makers,” Rober Oulds told Press TV’s UK Desk on Wednesday.

Economic experts believe that the rise in the unemployment rate could prompt British officials to raise interest rates later this year.

"If the data continue to strengthen in coming months in line with the surveys, a November rate hike remains very much in the picture," Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit was quoted as saying by the British media.

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