UK unemployment has fallen by 36,000 in the three months to the end of March to stand at 2.46m. This is the second quarterly fall in a row. The total number of people in work rose by 118,000 during the quarter, a very encouraging figure, especially as the vast majority of this increase, 94,000, is in full-time, rather than part-time jobs. There is however an increase in the long-term unemployed; during the last three months those unemployed for less than a year fell by 56,000, while those unemployed over a year rose by 20,000.

There is a shift, now starting to take place, from incapacity and other benefits onto Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) which means that while unemployment has been falling, JSA numbers have risen. This makes monthly analysis of the data more difficult as we get the most detailed information on JSA figures, and these are clearly not fully comparable with past figures and will show a bias towards a rise, even when total unemployment is flat or falling.

However there is still some useful information to be gleaned from the JSA numbers so its worth looking at them, while bearing in mind what I’ve just explained. Nationally the unadjusted JSA claimant rate stood at 5.3% in April, the same as in March. For Birmingham the figure rose from 11.6% to 11.7% to stand at 47,392. Bringing it closer to home, the unadjusted JSA claimant rate in Acocks Green rose by 15; from 1,155 to 1,170 (or 10.4%) in April. It was 110 higher (11.4%) a year ago.

Some other interesting information out today was that in the year to March 2011 there were the lowest number of days lost to industrial action (145,000) since records began in 1931.