Oral QuestionWomen and Equalities

If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

Tabled: 14 May 2018Answered: 17 May 2018

Asked by

Sir Desmond Swayne

ConservativeNew Forest West

Answering Minister

the Minister for Women and Equalities

Answer from Hansard

The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)

The unemployment rate is 4.7%—well below the historic high of 11.9% in 1984—but no one should ever be complacent about unemployment, especially considering the significant jump in economic inactivity under the Tories. That is why I am pleased to tell the House that employment is up by 725,000, to 75.3%, since July 2024 and inactivity is down by more than the rise in unemployment—a reduction of 400,000.