News Review: Unemployment falls to seven-year low

The UK unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low of 5.4% in the three months to August, figures have shown (BBC News).

It was the lowest jobless rate since the second quarter of 2008, the Office for National Statistics said.

The number of people out of work was 1.77 million between June and August, down 79,000 from the previous quarter.

The number in work rose by 140,000, bringing the employment rate to 73.6% - the highest rate since records began in 1971.

Some 22.77 million people were working full time in the three months to August, up 291,000 compared with the same period last year.

The number working part time rose 68,000 to 8.35 million.

Also in the news

Poverty kills 400 Scottish children every year (Third Force News)

Poverty and inequality plays a pivotal role in the deaths of around 400 Scottish children and young people each year, a group of child welfare experts has claimed.

A dozen professionals, including doctors, professors and the heads of charities, are demanding politicians take the welfare of children in Scotland more seriously in the run up to next year’s Scottish Parliament elections.

In an open letter, the signatories, which include representatives from YoungMinds, Children in Scotland, Teenage Cancer Trust, Clic Sargent, Action For Sick Children Scotland and Place2Be, say Scotland has the poorest child and adolescent physical and mental health in Western Europe. For example, more than a quarter of children and young people in Scotland are overweight or obese.

Huma Munshi: "Kinship carers are unsung heroes – but they are struggling to survive" (The Guardian)

The number of British children being brought up by their grandparents, aunts or other relatives has risen sharply to more than 150,000, according to recent research. When you consider that this is more than twice the number of children who are currently in care (70,000), it becomes clear how important these carers, known as kinship carers, are to society.

There is no doubt that kinship carers are, to use the words of Edward Timpson, Minister for Children and Families, the “unsung heroes”. Yet this government, through its draconian cuts, is leaving many of these carers struggling to survive.