Rugby’s unemployment fell in October 2014

The number of people out of work and claiming unemployment benefits in Rugby fell to 655 in October 2014. That is 44 down on September 2014 and 1,391 down on the last full month Labour were in office (April 2010).

There are several ways of measuring unemployment. The monthly claimant count is the fastest way of getting good statistics at a local level. Several annual surveys provide other statistics.

There are people who want work but cannot claim benefits. The Office of National Statistics estimates that the total number of unemployed people in Rugby (both those who can claim unemployment benefits and those who cannot) is now 2,100. This is a fall of 1,400 on the estimate for the last time Labour were in power. (Notice that these figures are quoted to the nearest hundred as the method of estimating these numbers is not as precise as the claimant count).

A popular criticism of the Coalition government's economic policy is that all the new jobs are part-time jobs. This is certainly not true for Rugby which now has more full-time jobs (29,200) than the last time Labour was in power when there were only 27,600 full-time jobs. (These statistics are only produced once a year and the comparison is between the most recent data in 2013 and the last full year Labour was in power, 2009).

Another popular criticism of the Coalition government's economic policy is that too many jobs are poorly paid. The statistics for women in full time employment in Rugby show that the average hourly rate of pay has risen during the period of Coalition government to £11.71 per hour from £10.57 an hour under Labour. This is an average and it is of course true that many employees receive less than the average rate of pay.

All these are official Office of National Statistics figures and can be double-checked on the NOMIS website https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011.

Rugby now has more people in work and fewer people out of work than when Labour was in power. So at least in this respect the economy is recovering under the Coalition government. Economists will argue about how much of this is due to government policy and how much is due to other causes. However having a stable government for a full five year period will have helped enterprises plan with confidence.