25,000 employed under Labour

The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment had dropped to 3.4% - the lowest in the 15-year data series (actually, looking at Infoshare, its the lowest all the way back to 1986). There are now 98,000 unemployed, 25,000 fewer than when Labour took office.

Record low unemployment in the middle of a pandemic is a triumph whichever way you look at it. But hopefully the bigger triumph will happen when it feeds through to wage increases, as businesses realise they have to compete for workers. Because isn't that what a "labour" government is meant to be about?