UK Employment Situation Worsens in September

Well, all our fears were confirmed this morning; the ONS issued its figures on the UK labour market for September, and it couldn't have been worst. The opening paragraph says it all:

The employment rate and the number of people in employment have fallen. The number of vacancies has fallen. The number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the claimant count have increased. The number of inactive people of working age and the inactivity rate have increased. Growth in average earnings, both excluding and including bonuses, has fallen.

What that practically says -- for anyone who doesn't know -- is that every possible indicator to tell us what employment is doing is shouting at us: "IT'S NOT BAD, IT'S TERRIBLE", and what's worse is that, with vacancies falling things are unlikely to improve any time soon.

It is a well known fact the labour market tends to be the last thing to show any signs of recovery at the tail end of a recession. There is no indication that this one will be any different so far.