Number of families with all adults in work also on the rise
The proportion of jobless households in the UK has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 20 years, according to official figures.
In the three months to June, 17.1 per cent of all households with at least one person aged 16 to 64 were workless, down from 17.9 per cent in the same period last year.
This was the lowest percentage since records began in 1996, but there were still 3.5 million working age households with no-one in employment, the Office for National Statistics found.
There were 297,000 households where no-one had ever worked in 2013, down 43,000 on the year, ONS added. Excluding student households there were 224,000 households comprising only of people who had never worked, a dip of 41,000 on the previous year.
The north-east was the region with the highest proportion of workless households at 23 per cent, compared to the lowest recording of 13 per cent in the south-east.
The latest figures showed that the number of children in workless households was 1.6 million, or one in every seven children. Of these, 65 per cent were living in single-parent households.
As well as an overall fall in workless households, there was also a drop of 98,000 in mixed households – those where some adults were in work and others were not. In April to June 2013 there were 5.9 million such households, representing 28.8 per cent of the total.
By comparison, there was a rise of 115,000 in households where all adult members were in work, taking the number to 11 million, or 54 per cent.
Meanwhile, separate figures released today indicated that the job prospects for graduates were faring well in a tough labour market.
Only 3.2 per cent of graduates who left higher education in 2008/09, were believed to be unemployed three and a half years later, said the University and College Union.
This compared to the UK’s current unemployment rates of 7.8 per cent overall, and 21.4 per cent for 16- to 24-year-olds.
The union said that the findings, from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, demonstrated the “positive difference” education made to individuals and wider society.
“In simple financial terms, people with degrees are more likely to be employed and more likely to earn a better wage,” said UCU president, Simon Renton. “Research also shows that better-educated people are less likely to be involved in crime or a drain on the welfare state.”