Office for National Statistics says redundancy rate in third quarter of 2009 was lowest since same period in previous year

The number of redundancies made in construction fell to its lowest level in the third quarter of 2009 since the same period a year ago, new figures have revealed.

Data from the Office for National Statistics released today, shows a drop in the number of redundancies to about 38,000 between July and September 2009, compared with an estimated 42,000 job losses in the second quarter.

Since quarter three in 2008, which saw about 32,000 redundancies in the sector, job losses continued to rise, peaking at about 49,000 between January and March last year.

The overall employment rate for all sectors in September to November 2009 was 72.4% - the lowest since the winter of 1996-97, the ONS said.

The number of people in employment fell by 14,000 on the quarter, to 28.92 million.

Meanwhile, the number of people unemployed for more than 12 months increased by 29,000 over the quarter to 631,000 - the highest figure since the three months to November 1997.

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