UK employment rate remains at record high, ONS figures show

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that the UK employment rate remains at a record high.

The Labour Force survey showed an increase in the number of people in work between November 2017 and January 2018 and February and April 2018, with 32.39 million people in employment.

Record low

The figures showed that 146,000 more people were in work than for November 2017 to January 2018 and 440,000 more than for a year earlier, while the employment rate remained at 75.6%, up from 74.8% the previous year.

The number of unemployed people stood at 1.42 million, with 38,000 fewer people out of work than for November 2017 to January 2018 and 115,000 less than for the previous year.

The unemployment rate dropped to a record low of 4.2%, down from 4.6% from a year earlier, while the inactivity rate for those aged 16 to 64 stood at 21.0%, down from 21.5% the previous year.

The figures also showed that the number of women in work has reached a record high of 15.26 million, while youth unemployment has dropped by more than 40% since 2010.

Wages also out-paced inflation for the third month running, with a rise of 0.4% (without bonuses) and 0.1% (with bonuses) compared with the previous year.

Continued fall

Commenting on the figures, Minister for Employment, Alok Sharma said: “At 75.6%, the employment rate has never been higher, with more people in work than ever before. And with a continued fall in unemployment, we have a strong jobs market that’s set 17 new employment rate records since 2010.”