Minister corrects the record over '30 per cent unemployment' claim

On Tuesday Chloe Smith, recently promoted to the position of Economic Secretary to the Treasury, stated that under the previous Labour government unemployment was 30 per cent.

As Full Fact explained, this was incorrect. The average rate of unemployment over the course of the government was 8.1 per cent for those aged 16 and above.

We contacted the Treasury calling for a correction, and today they got back to us.

We were told that the error was simply a slip of the tongue on the part of Ms. Smith, as a result of heated exchange between herself and the Labour MP Fiona MacTaggart.

The Minister in fact meant to say that female unemployment rose by 30 per cent during the previous Labour government.

Hansard has now been officially corrected, with the new statement saying:

'The hon. Lady will be aware that female employment has remained broadly steady since the start of 2008. Employment among women aged 25 to 64 is up more than 100,000 since the start of 2008, and has risen by 15,000 in the three months to August 2011.... Furthermore, she should know that female unemployment rose by 30 per cent under her party's Government.'

Full Fact welcomes the speed with which this correction has been made.

It is however always worth making sure that the correction is correct, so we decided to take a look at this new statement.

The claim remains somewhat unclear. Over the course of the entire Labour government, from 1997 to 2010 the rate of female unemployment amongst those aged 16-64 rose by 11.3, not 30 per cent according to ONS data.

The number of unemployed women rose by 24.4 per cent, still less than 30 per cent.

Nor is Ms. Smith referring to the rise from the lowest rate of female unemployment to its highest. The lowest rate of female unemployment was in Jun-Aug 2005 when it stood at only 4.2 per cent, and it's highest was in Mar-May 2010 at 6.9 per cent.

This is a rise of 64 per cent, and a total gross increase of 71 per cent.

It seems likely that the Minister is speaking about the rise of female unemployment that was seen between the third quarter 2008 and Labour's last month in office. This was indeed a rise of 30 per cent in the rate of female unemployment from Jul-Sept 2008 to Mar-May 2010.

This time period might seem somewhat arbitrary, but it was made in the context of other statements about employment rates since 2008. So while the phrasing is somewhat vague, it cannot be said that this corrected statement is inaccurate.