| UK unemployment rate increased again to 4.2%, 1.440 million people unemployed Unemployment amongst young people remains high, particularly the youngest age group (aged 16-17 = 26.2% / aged 18-24 = 11%) Employment rate was largely unchanged at 74.5%, 32.98 million people employed  |
| UK economic inactivity rate was slightly up on the last quarter at 22.2%, higher than 12 months ago due to an increase in 16 to 34 years olds, which was slightly offset by a decrease in those aged 35 to 49 9.40 million people are economically inactive, an increase of 275,000 on last year and 853,000 higher than pre-pandemic levels Vacancies fell again to 916,000, the 21st consecutive period fall, down 13,000 from previous quarter, but higher than pre-covid levels. There were 1.6 unemployed people per vacancy in December 2023 to February 2024, up from 1.4 as a result of vacancies falling and unemployment increasing Payrolled employees for March 2024 was 30.3 million, a rise of 0.7% compared to last year. This is a rise of 204,000 over the last 12 months. 1.27 million higher than pre-pandemic levels Annual growth in regular pay without bonus increased by 6.0%, and with bonus by 5.6%. Adjusted for inflation, annual growth regular pay was 1.9% and total pay was 1.6% 6.41 million people were claiming Universal Credit in January 2024. This has increased from 5.79 million in January 2023 and is more than twice as high as pre-pandemic levels. There are currently 1.44 million people searching for work Redundancies decreased 9.3 per thousand employees, 0.8 higher than last year 106,000 working days lost because of labour disputes in February, mainly in health and social care |
