Today’s figures from the Office of National Statistics show that unemployment is down 3000 in the three months to December to 2.46 million.

However, the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance rose by 23,500 to 1.64 million.

John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said that the 37,000 people forced to take part-time when they would prefer to work full-time showed “a much richer account of the degree to which this recession has impacted on the workforce. With a weak economic recovery set to result in further job losses in the coming months, it is highly likely that the unemployment situation will get worse before it starts to get significantly better.”

Today’s jobs market outlook is as gloomy as the weather. Hopefully some cheerier news (and weather) is around the corner!

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