The jobless rate has increased but employers firing activity remains subdued, according to a chief economist.

Dr John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: “The latest official labour market statistics, published earlier today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show a substantial fall in the rate of growth in employment compared with recent quarters and a further rise in unemployment on both the Labour Force Survey and claimant count measures. However, employers are still hiring and there is no sign yet of a rise in redundancies which indicates that the labour market overall is cooling only moderately.”

What do you think? Send us your views