Economy continues greying as unemployment falls

As ever there’s good and bad news in today’s jobs numbers. Unemployment fell by 57,000, but the number of people in employment only rose by 16,000.

The figures also show that the greying of the British economy continues. In May there were 8,000 fewer 16-64 year olds in work, and 25,000 more 65-pluses in work. Since the peak of employment in 2008 there are more than 300,000 more pensioners working.

There’s one more thing that may turn out to be a big positive: Britons put in over 950 million hours in the last three months, that’s 0.4 per cent more than the previous quarter. According to the NIESR, GDP grew by 0.6% over the same period. That means that the productivity of labour – which has slumped during the recession – may be increasing again.