Number of working households falls

Wednesday 27th August 2008, 2:00PM BST.

The number of working households fell by 80,000 in the three months to June compared to last year, statistics show.

Data from the Office of National Statistics show the number of working households – where all members over the age of 16 are in employment – fell over the quarter.

However, the number of workless households – where no-one of working age works – also fell, by 15,000.

The figures show one in ten people of working age (11 per cent) are in workless households. The proportion of children living in workless households was slightly higher, at 15 per cent.

The employment rate for single parents was 56.3 per cent, down 0.5 percentage points from the previous year. The number of workless lone parent households with dependent children was 714,000, up 10,000 from the previous year.

In contrast, the employment rate for married or cohabiting mothers was 71.7 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from last year.

Shadow minister for welfare reform James Clappison said: “These figures are yet another worrying sign that jobs in Britain are being hit by the economic slow down. Ministers urgently need to explain what they plan to do to stop this trend continuing.”

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