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Jobs market 'could be past the worst'

The UK jobs market would appear to have put the worst of the recession behind it and can now look forward to some sort of recovery, it has been stated.

Thomas Usher, research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, said many employers have a lot of spare manpower at present and this could be put to good use to make businesses more efficient over the coming months.

He commented: "It certainly seems that if you compare what has happened month-by-month in this recession with what has happened ... in previous recent recessions, the labour market has performed better this time."

According to employment figures published in January by the Office for National Statistics, the number of unemployed people fell by 7,000 over the quarter to reach 2.46 million.

This is the first quarterly fall in the number of unemployed people since the three months to May 2008. However, the number of people unemployed for more than 12 months increased by 29,000 over the quarter to reach 631,000 - the highest figure since the three months to November 1997.