Payroll employment is close to a record high at 30.1 million – 370,000 higher than this time last year and 1.1m higher than before the government’s covid lockdowns.
There are 3.9 million more people in work than in 2010.
The unemployment rate is below many of our international peers, including Canada, France and Spain. Long-term unemployment continues to fall, down over 10% on the year and over 60% since 2010.
Economic inactivity has fallen by over a quarter of a million since the pandemic peak and is lower than the average for the G7, the EU and the OECD.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride MP said:
There are more than one million more people on company payrolls compared to 2019, a near record high, and today’s statistics also show inactivity has fallen by over a quarter of a million since the pandemic peak.
Growing the economy is our priority. That’s why we are bearing down on inflation and bringing in the next generation of welfare reforms to drive down inactivity and help more people into work.
Andrew Jones MP said:
It is clearly good news that the number in employment is rising and very good news that in employment terms we are leaving the pandemic behind us.
Here in Harrogate and Knaresborough we have historically low unemployment and this week it was announced that it has fallen year-on-year giving a local unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent, well below the national average of 4.9 per cent.
There are month-by-month variations as you would expect but we now have an established trend of low unemployment over the last decade.
Much of that is to do with the vibrant business culture here but I do also want to pay tribute to our local JobCentre Plus who do amazing work getting people into long-term stable employment.
