Target 3
Performance – PSA 3b
The Department is on course to meet this target. The UK has the second lowest ILO unemployment rate of the G7 group of major industrialised countries and recent figures – 4.8 per cent in both GB and UK in winter 2004 – are the lowest for a generation. The previous lowest ILO unemployment rate in the UK was 6.9 per cent in 1990 and the figure was last lower than the current rate in the summer of 1975 (see Figure 6).
Recent claimant unemployment figures are also the lowest since 1975. The current rate – 2.7 per cent in April 2005 – compares to the previous low of 5.2 per cent in 1990 and the last time the rate was consistently lower was in 1975. This suggests that over recent economic cycles the sustainable rate of unemployment has fallen.
Looking ahead
Building on New Deal (BOND)24 will help to provide more customer-orientated help for people to enter employment, by breaking down the barriers between existing channels of New Deal provision and providing more help to people on inactive benefits.
The extension of the Pathways to Work pilots to a third of the Incapacity Benefit caseload from October 2005 should inform a larger number of people with health conditions and disabilities of the menu of options for assistance they are entitled to, and in turn, help them to overcome barriers to work.
Figure 6 - UK unemployment levels and rates 1971–2005
Link to long description of 'UK unemployment levels and rates 1971–2005' graph [D].
The Department is piloting a comprehensive package of support in the New Deal Plus for Lone Parents pilots in five districts from April 2005.
In addition, pilots are continuing to test an improvement in incentives for lone parents to find work through measures such as the In-Work Credit, Work Search Premium and stepping up both the quality and number of work-focused interviews for parents whose youngest child is aged 14 or over. This is to help them prepare for the transition to work or Jobseeker’s Allowance once their child reaches the age of 16. The Government’s commitment to providing universal, affordable and flexible childcare for parents of children aged 3 to 14 years in England will remove the childcare barrier that many lone parents face when they decide to re-enter the labour market.
There is continued emphasis on helping older people into work and reducing discrimination, in recognition of the UK’s ageing population.
Carers will be encouraged to enter the labour market by extending their flexible working rights.
The Department expects these measures to contribute towards moving more people into work