Youth unemployment was down by 17,000 to 1.02 million. But the number of people unemployed for more than a year increased by 27,000 to 887,000, the worst total since 1996.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 13,700 to 1.59 million in April.

Part-time working hit another record. The ONS said the total number was 7.99 million between January and March, up 118,000 compared with the previous three month period between October and December.

Those working part time because they couldn’t find a full time job was also the highest since records began in 1992 at 1.42 million, up 73,000 on the previous quarter.

Of the 45,000 drop in unemployment, 42,000 were men and just 3,000 were women.

Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King said that the latest figures were consistent with a gradual recovery in the UK economy, while pointing to the huge risk to the UK economy posed by the crisis in the eurozone, the UK’s biggest trading partner.

There was also further evidence in the ONS data of the squeeze on household incomes with average pay including bonuses rose by 0.6% from a year earlier, the lowest growth for three years.

The survey found that profit margins were under pressure from a “strong” rise in input prices.

But it also found business expectations at their highest level for two years.

The manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.5 in April from 51.9 in March, while the construction index fell to 55.8 from March’s 21-month high of 56.7.

The survey is watched particularly closely as services account for more than two-thirds of the UK’s total economic output.

“The service sector started the second quarter on a weaker note than in the first quarter, but continued to grow at a reasonable pace,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

“Companies continued to report rising levels of new business, which helped drive confidence to the highest for over two years. From what we are hearing from panelists, this certainly does not sound like an economy in recession.”

Official figures, which are subject to revision, published last week showed that the UK fell back into recession after the economy shrank by 0.2% in the first three months of the year, its second consecutive quarter of contraction.

“The number of job losses that came as a result of these administrations was almost 10,000 out of the 22,000 employed by those companies,” it said.

Among the firms hit were Past Times, Peacocks, Game, La Senza, and Blacks.

Meanwhile, the administrations figure for the first quarter was up by 64% on the previous quarter, when 42 retailers entered administration.

“Whilst the quarterly rent day often sets the timing for the insolvency, a significant trigger in a number of recent administrations is that many retailers have too many marginal stores,” said Lee Manning, restructuring services partner at Deloitte.

“As online retailing continues to grow whilst overall spending is weak, the fixed costs and poor performance of some stores drag on the overall business.”

And he said job losses at firms entering administration were much higher than a year previously.

Mr Manning also said that to remain competitive, some retailers would have to rethink their business models “to be nimble and adaptable to changing consumer trends”.

In total, the number of firms entering administration, excluding retailers, in the first quarter of the year saw a fall of 10% on 12 months before, from 497 to 447.

“Whilst conditions undoubtedly remain tough, the year-on-year decline is a positive indicator and gives a glimmer of hope that some industries are potentially over the worst,” said Mr Manning.

Overall, the total number of businesses – including retailers – which went bust in England and Wales crept up in 2011, after having fallen slightly in 2010.

There were 4,972 receiverships, administrations or company voluntary arrangements last year, up 1.3% on the previous year.

The number of firms that were liquidated – the end point of the insolvency process – was up 5.1% on 2010, to 16,871.

It added that while food sales rose, helped by people stocking up in the very cold weather, sales of non-food goods continued to fall.

The BRC said total sales rose 2.3%.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said a number of factors were continuing to cause consumers to be cautious.

“Falling inflation has eased the squeeze on household finances and halted the slide in consumer confidence, but that’s at risk from fuel price rises and Budget uncertainty,” said Mr Robertson.

“Unemployment is expected to rise further, causing increased nervousness about job security, which is keeping confidence fragile.”

The BRC added that sales of non-food goods via the internet, mail order and telephone rose 9.9% from a year earlier, which was a slowdown on growth of 11.3% in January, and 18.5% in December.

Mr Robertson called on the government to do more to help the retail sector.

“In this climate of continued caution, the chancellor must use the Budget to hold back business costs, which support jobs, growth and the much-needed consumer turnaround.”

Lloyds, which is 40% owned by the taxpayer, said it would shed 1,600 posts as part of its plan to cut its workforce by 15,000.

Lloyds has plans to halve its international presence and this move is part of that.

Both banks said they would try to keep compulsory redundancies at a minimum.

The government bailed out both banks during the 2008 credit crisis.

Since the start of the financial crisis, Lloyds has shed around 30,000 posts through the headcount reduction plan and the integration of its HBOS business.

The job losses at RBS will be from its private banking operations. The company said: “We are working hard to rebuild RBS in order to repay taxpayers for their support and having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of this process.”

Lloyds said that of the 1,600 affected positions, it was transferring some 300 workers over to its suppliers, meaning that they would still have a job, while 300 of these are being offshored to India.

The bank said the job losses would come from its group operations, executive functions, wholesale and insurance divisions.

North-west and eastern England, London, and Yorkshire and Humberside will see the highest increases, it predicts.

But it adds that the West Midlands, Northern Ireland and South West will see a job recovery.

The left-leaning IPPR said it expected 50,000 more men and 50,000 women to become unemployed this year as public sector jobs continued to be cut.

It predicts that 40,000 of those becoming jobless will be under the age of 25.

“The personal tragedy of the slow economic recovery is the way unemployment will continue to rise over the next year, even once the economy begins to grow,” said Kayte Lawton, senior research fellow at the think tank.

“This has been the longest recession and the slowest recovery that Britain has ever experienced.  The risk is that high unemployment becomes a permanent feature of the UK economy, as it did in the 1980s.”

The Department of Work and Pensions said that while “the international economic outlook remains difficult… we will do everything we can to help the unemployed find jobs”.

“There have been some encouraging signs that the labour market is stabilising, but there is clearly still a big challenge ahead to bring down unemployment,” a spokesman said.

The most recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed that UK unemployment rose by 28,000 to 2.67 million during the three months to January, with the unemployment rate at 8.4%.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance increased by 7,200 to 1.61 million in February.

It is further evidence of a difficult start to the year for retailers.

There was an increase in the number of respondents describing their economic situation as bad.

Cautious consumers are choosing to pay off credit cards and loans, rather than take on new borrowing, the data indicate.

This reflects official retail sales data for the month, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.

Sales volumes declined by a larger-than-expected 0.8% in February, the ONS said.

The Local Data Company said the rise in empty premises was “not unexpected” as retailers continue to cut back and even go bust.

Most at risk towns and cities
Bradford
Derby
Wolverhampton
Southampton
Hull
Sheffield
Swindon
Warrington
Stockport
Nottingham

Source: BNP Paribas Real Estate ranks retail centres according to likelihood of more shops closing and the place’s ability to withstand a weakening economy

“It is a timely reminder to the government, who are due to respond to the Portas Review this month, of the significant challenges facing town and city centres up and down the country,” said LDC director Matthew Hopkinson.

It will require a change in the law to allow landlords to take part in these initiatives, which are currently funded by increases in business rates.

Some 16.5 million people were out of work in the eurozone in December, up 751,000 on the year before.

The highest unemployment rate remains in Spain (22.9%), while the lowest is in Austria (4.1%).

Unemployment has been rising throughout 2011, as the debt crisis in the region has continued. In December 2010, the unemployment rate in the euro area was 10%.
Investment delays

In the 27 EU countries, the unemployment rate was 9.9% in December, with 23.8 million people out of work. November’s figure was also revised up from 9.8% to 9.9%.

The biggest increases over the past year were seen in Greece, Cyprus and Spain.

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It now says that that it will reduce its store base to 200 by March 2015.

The news came as the babywear retailer revealed a 6.2% drop in like-for-like sales in the UK in the year to the end of March. For the fourth quarter, UK like-for-like sales were down 8.2%.

The company said it had closed 62 stores in the UK in the past year and would close another 111 stores by March 2015.

The group, which also runs the Early Learning Centre, said the 200 profitable outlets it was focusing on were made up of 95 out-of-town stores and 105 High Street stores.

Mothercare launched a structural and operational review of its business in November, and said the review and resulting strategy was nearing completion.

The new strategy for the next three years will be presented by new chief executive Simon Calver with the company’s preliminary results on 24 May.

The store closures leave hundreds of full time jobs and part time jobs at risk.

The retailer’s drive to cut costs also includes a 16% reduction in head office payroll costs, which equates to about 90 roles.

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