Unemployment by Constituency, March 2012

The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance increased by 7,200 between January and February 2012 to 1.61 million people aged 18 or over. The wider ILO measure of unemployment was 2.67 million in November-January 2012, a rise of 28,000 from the last quarter. This total includes 1.04 million people aged 16-24. Public sector employment fell by 37,000 over the last quarter, to 5.94 million in December 2011 – its lowest level since June 2003 – while private sector employment rose by 45,000 to 23.17 million. Average weekly total pay rose by 1.4% in November-January 2012 in Great Britain compared with the year before. Total pay in the public sector excluding financial services rose by 0.7% – the smallest increase since the series began in 2001.