By
Becky Barrow
17:32 EST, 20 June 2012
|
17:36 EST, 20 June 2012
Employment minister Chris Grayling said the figures proved the private sector is creating jobs
Private firms created jobs at more than five times the rate the state sector cut them in the first three months of this year.
Around 560 posts a day were created amid signs of a recovery in the employment market.
The Office for National Statistics showed an extra 205,000 jobs in private firms between January and March – the biggest rise for two years -– compared to 39,000 public sector job losses.
David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: ‘This proves that the private sector is willing and able to create jobs while public sector employment continues to shrink.
Employment Minister Chris Grayling said the figures ‘disprove those who said the private sector could not create more jobs than are lost in the public sector.’
He insisted he will ‘not be complacent for one moment’ amid fears the ONS’s figures are a blip, rather than a long-term trend.
Andrew Sissons, a researcher at The Work Foundation, warned: ‘It is difficult to reconcile these numbers with the ongoing problems in the economy.’
They were released as Britain has gone into its first double-dip recession since the 1970s and the eurozone teeters on the brink of collapse.
Also, the ONS figures contained anumber of warning signals.
While employment has jumped, up 166,000 to 29.3million between February and April, around half of the new ‘jobs’ were self-employed. There is now a record number of self-employed – 4.2million.
Some experts say many will be earning much less than they need to, but simply could not find another job, leaving them with no option but to declare themselves self-employed.
While unemployment has dropped, down 51,000 to 2.62million, a third have been out of work for more than 12 months.
Meanwhile, the number of workers who have a job – but not the one that they want – remains close to record levels. There are 1.4million only working part-time because they could not find a full-time job. The number is up nearly 200,000 on last year.
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