Unemployment down, but it is better than that

Unemployment, that is to say those registered as unemployed reduced by 9,000 last month, although the number actually receiving job seekers allowances actually went down by slightly less (5,300) showing that people on benefits are more likely to hang on to them than those people who are out of work but living off their own resources.

But that only tells half the story because overall employment in the UK economy increased by 167,000 in the three months to September, compared with the previous quarter, reaching 29.19 million.  What is actually happening is that over 150,000 people who had actually given up bothering to register as unemployed got back into work in the 3 months immediately following the Conservative election victory.

Why is this happening?  Take a look at this story from a few days ago

LONDON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- The British government supports a plan by BP to broaden its exploration licenses in the regional waters of the North Sea, the company said.
British supermajor BP announced it won seven offshore exploration blocks in the North Sea during the latest licensing round from the British government.
BP has been offloading foreign assets to pay for the damages incurred from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during the summer.
BP in its latest financial report said its $39.9 billion tab for the Gulf of Mexico spill "represented its current best estimate of those costs that can be reliably measured at this time."
Trevor Garlick, the company's regional president, said strong investments in the North Sea, however, were a boon to BP's continued success.
"These license awards are a significant success for BP and a further boost to the long-term future of our North Sea business," he said in a statement.
Garlick added that projects in the North Sea are part of a strong investment strategy in the region.
The awards were from the British Department of Energy and Climate Change.

British Petroleum didn't invest a penny in the North Sea while the Labour windfall taxers and profit ring-fencers were in power, but now they look as though they have gone for a while, BP are back to extract oil deposits that were there all along. The UK can count on £6 billion of productive investment that wouldn't have happened under Labour.