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Employment rate continues to rise 15 June 2018
The latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey show that the employment rate continues its rise and the unemployment rate continues its decline.
For February to April 2018, the unemployment rate was 4.2%, down from 4.6% for a year earlier and the joint lowest since 1975.
The latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) show that in the three months to April 2018, the employment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 75.6% when compared with the three months to January 2018.
Key statistics include:
• Employment increased by 146,000 compared with the three months to January 2018 to a record high of 32.39 million. • Unemployment fell by 38,000 compared with the three months to January 2018 to reach 1.42 million. • While short and medium-term unemployment fell, long-term unemployment increased compared with the previous quarter. • The number of part-time workers who want a full-time job has followed a general downward trend since the three months to July 2013 but has levelled off and remained stable in the latest quarter. • Vacancies increased by 33,000 compared with a year ago to reach 818,000 in the three months to May 2018.
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Carers in the workplace and what employers can do to support 18 June 2018
Further to a Call for Evidence consultation in 2016, an action plan has been published which sets out how the Government will improve support for carers in England over the next 2 years. The plan details the action that employers can take to enable carers to balance their caring and employment responsibilities, which include: • To increase the number of employers who are aware of caring and the impact this has on their workforce • To consider what flexible working practices might help both the employer and employee • Creating initiatives to support employers to improve working practices and flexible working to help carers to stay in work. The action plan talks about the many carers who have difficulties balancing work and performing a caring role, and at the same time struggle to make ends meet leading to financial hardship, which puts further pressure on them. Where an employer is made aware of an employee with caring responsibilities, employers can take simple, but effective action to enable carers to balance their caring and employment responsibilities.
Around one in nine working people are also carers (Census, 2011) and indeed the largest proportion of carers are in employment, whether full or part time.
Through the Call for Evidence, carers said how important they thought it was to support working carers. Many carers spoke about how difficult they found it to balance work, look after their own health and wellbeing and perform a caring role - and in some cases how they needed to give up work altogether because there were no alternatives. Feedback highlighted the practical challenges of maintaining employment, the positive and negative treatment experienced from employers, and a desire for more flexible working.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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