The unemployment rate in the UK dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 8.1% in the three months to July, the Office for National Statistics reports today.

But upon closer examination, there is a more complex picture beyond the headline good news. The number of people out of work for over a year was 904,000, the highest for 16 years, while the number in part-time work was 8.12m, the highest since records started in 1992. The number of those working part-time because they could not find a full-time post hit a record high of 1.42m.

Total pay excluding bonuses rose by 1.5% over the year, but by 0.3% on the quarter.

John Salt, director at the jobs board totaljobs.com, says: “Underemployment continues to rise and more people are forced into part-time work or self-employment because there is nothing else out there. We have also seen a large number of people taken out of the unemployment figures – if not unemployment itself – as they go on government training schemes.”

Xenios Thrasyvoulou, founder and chief executive of the freelance jobs marketplace PeoplePerHour, adds: "With business confidence still at rock bottom, it's a rare employer who's seeking to ramp up headcount right now.

"In the current febrile climate, employers are increasingly prizing the flexibility of short-term freelance contracts."

However, Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) chief executive Kevin Green comments: “These are a remarkable set of figures which reflect the resilience of the UK labour market and show that the private sector is more confident about its business than reports would have us believe.

“Businesses in sectors such as healthcare, IT and engineering, are creating new jobs and driving demand for workers."

Meanwhile, the Employment Outlook Survey released yesterday by Manpower showed a positive balance of 3% of employers looking to take on staff in the final months of 2012, following a +2% balance in Q3. The balance is calculated by subtracting the number of companies likely to lay off staff from those looking to increase headcount.

The survey noted that this was mainly confined to the South and the Midlands, with Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North-West, and Yorkshire and Humberside showing a negative balance.