U.K. jobless down again

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 11

U.K. jobless down again

NZPA-Reuter London Britain’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest in eight years last month, but the Government said yesterday that rising wages could still endanger jobs. Government figures showed the number of Britons out of work, adjusted to account for seasonal variations, falling by 41,200 to 1,946,600, or 6.8 per cent of the workforce — the first time below 7 per cent since 1980.

It was the thirty-first consecutive monthly fall in unemployment and the biggest sustained decrease since World War 11, the Conservative Government said.

But wage statistics, another key indicator of the national economy, showed earnings rising by an average 9 per cent in January compared to the same month in 1988.

“Moderation in pay remains essential if the future prospects for jobs are not put at risk,” the Employment Secretary,

Norman Fowler, said in a statement. The Opposition Labour Party employment spokesman, Michael Meacher, said growth in new jobs had dropped alarmingly. “Unemployment has dropped as far as it can go with current Government policies. But on the Government’s own figures it is twice as high as when they took office,” he told reporters. Unemployment mushroomed to more than three million in the mid1980s as traditional industries such as coal mining and steel slumped.

The trend dealt a heavy blow to the country’s formerly strong trade union movement.

Yesterday’s statistics showed Britain’s strike record, which blighted the economy and hampered competition with Western rivals in the 1960 s and 19705, had improved sharply. February had the lowest number of days lost in disputes since 1940.