Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Kawczynski Excerpts

Monday 9th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

19. What recent comparative assessment he has made of rates of unemployment in the UK and in other European countries.

[The Minister for Employment (Damian Hinds)]

The UK has the joint fourth lowest unemployment rate in the European Union. At 4.3%, UK unemployment is the lowest in 42 years. It is 3.3 percentage points below the EU 28 average and half that of the euro area.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

Our unemployment rates continue to fall faster than the EU mean. How is universal credit helping that?

[Damian Hinds]

Universal credit is an absolutely integral part of our overall approach to employment. It not only simplifies the system but makes it easier for people to go into work, because they do not have to think about whether subsequently they might have to restart their benefit claim. Once people are in work, it means that they can make progress more easily because there are none of the cliff edges of the old system.