In January 2025, the employment rate in the United Kingdom was 74.9 percent, up from 74.7 percent in the same period a year earlier. After almost dropping below 70 percent in 2011, the employment rate in the United Kingdom started to climb at a relatively fast pace, peaking in early 2020. Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the employment declined to 74.6 percent by January 2021. Although not quite at pre-pandemic levels, the employment rate has since recovered. Hot UK labor market cools in 2023 Although unemployment in the UK spiked at 5.1 percent in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, it fell throughout most of 2022, to just 3.6 percent in August 2022. Around that time, the number of job vacancies in the UK was also at quite high levels, reaching a peak of 1.3 million by May 2022. The strong labor market put employees in quite a strong position, perhaps encouraging the high number of resignations that took place around that time. While wage growth has also been strong since 2022, these gains were cancelled-out for a long period between 2021 and 2023 when inflation grew faster than wages. By July 2023, unemployment had bounced back to 4.3 percent, while the number of job vacancies fell below one million in August 2023 for the first time since August 2021. UK in recession at end of 2023 Although the UK labor market has loosened since 2022, it has generally remained in good health, with unemployment low by historical standards. Inflation also fell throughout 2023, from 10.1 percent at the beginning of the year, to four percent by December. Getting inflation down to more acceptable levels, however, came at the expense of raising the Bank of England's already high-interest rate throughout 2023. The knock-on effect of higher borrowing costs likely did little to spur economic growth that year, with GDP growing by just 0.1 percent in 2023. Even this meager economic growth was only achieved due to growth in the first half of the year. In the second half of 2023, the economy shrank in two consecutive quarters, meaning the UK is officially in recession heading into a probable election year.

Main labour market statistics time series data (large dataset).

There were almost 1.56 million unemployed people in the United Kingdom in the three months to December 2024, compared with 1.57 million in the previous month. Though this is quite a low figure by historical standards, it was also the most people unemployed since June 2021. In the provided time, there was a peak of 2.7 million people unemployed in November 2011, and a noticeable uptick in unemployment in 2020. The bump in unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic peaked at almost 1.8 million in December 2020, before falling to a low of 1.2 million in August 2022, before climbing up again to the most recent levels. Government plans to boost UK workforce Although the Labour Party inherited a relatively healthy unemployment rate of around four percent from the previous government, the UK's labor market is less robust than it first appears. The current level of economic inactivity, is seen as the more concerning figure, especially the rising share of people on long-term sick leave. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, at the end of 2019, there were around 2.08 million people economically inactive due to long-term sickness, with this figure increasing by around 740,000 by early 2024. Government plans to address the root cause of these issue, and improve incentives to work, were unveiled at the end of 2024, but may have come at an inopportune time. Labor market signals for 2025 Encouraging people back into work is one thing, making sure there are jobs there is another. Recent data suggests that the UK is continuing to cool off from an overheated labor market in 2022, which at one point saw 1.3 million job vacancies in the UK. Although the current level of job vacancies is at more usual levels, any further falls could spell trouble for the economy. In December 2024, the number of people on UK payrolls fell by 47,000, while the number of redundancies has started to climb. Some UK businesses have also signalled that they have, or plan to, lay off staff due to increased taxes set to come into force in the next financial year.

Flows estimates from the Labour Force Survey, levels and rates, UK, quarterly.

There were over 33.9 million people employed in the United Kingdom in the three months to January 2025. This represented a peak for the number of people employed in the country during this provided time period. In general, the number of people employed has consistently increased, with noticeable dips in employment occurring in 2008 due to the global financial crisis, and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Labor market hot streak in 2022 Although there was a sharp increase in the UK's unemployment rate in the aftermath of COVID-19, the UK labor market bounced back forcefully after this sudden shock. By the middle of 2022, the UK's unemployment rate had recovered to pre-pandemic levels, while the number of job vacancies in the UK reached record highs. Wage growth was, by this point, growing at a much slower rate than inflation, which peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022. In the two years since this peak, the UK labor market has cooled slightly; with unemployment reaching 4.4 percent by December 2024, and the number of job vacancies falling to the lowest figures since May 2021. Characteristics of UK workers As of 2024, the majority of UK workers were working in the private sector, at over 27.6 million workers. In the same year the size of the UK's public sector workforce stood at approximately 6.1 million, with over two million of these people working for the UK's National Health Service (NHS), and a further 1.66 million in the public education sector. In the UK's private sector, the industry sector which employed the most people was wholesale and retail, which had a workforce of over 4.9 million people, followed by administrative and support service roles at around 3.1 million.

Labour market indicators for UK constituent countries and English regions, including employment, unemployment, economic inactivity, workers' hours, jobs and Claimant Count, published monthly.

Employment by age and sex for UK regions and countries, rolling three-monthly figures published monthly, not seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey.

Breakdowns of the prevalence of homeworking by industry, occupation, region, age, sex and ethnicity.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a survey of the population of private households, student halls of residence and NHS accommodation.

Graph and download economic data for Infra-Annual Labor Statistics: Labor Force Participation Rate Total: From 15 to 64 Years for United Kingdom (LRAC64TTGBQ156S) from Q1 1971 to Q4 2024 about 15 to 64 years, participation, United Kingdom, labor force, labor, and rate.

Labour market statistics summary data table, including earnings, employment, unemployment, redundancies and vacancies, Great Britain and UK, published monthly.

The youth unemployment rate for those aged between 16 and 24 in the United Kingdom was 14.8 percent in December 2024, compared with 14.5 percent in the previous month.

Graph and download economic data for Infra-Annual Labor Statistics: Labor Force Participation Rate Total: 15 Years or over for United Kingdom (LRACTTTTGBQ156N) from Q2 1992 to Q4 2024 about 15 years +, participation, United Kingdom, labor force, labor, and rate.

United Kingdom UK: Labour Force Participation Rate: Modeled ILO Estimate: Aged 15-24 data was reported at 57.717 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 57.889 % for 2016. United Kingdom UK: Labour Force Participation Rate: Modeled ILO Estimate: Aged 15-24 data is updated yearly, averaging 61.869 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 71.828 % in 1990 and a record low of 57.407 % in 2014. United Kingdom UK: Labour Force Participation Rate: Modeled ILO Estimate: Aged 15-24 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Labour Force. Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24 is the proportion of the population ages 15-24 that is economically active: all people who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period.; ; International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT database. Data retrieved in September 2018.; Weighted average; Data up to 2016 are estimates while data from 2017 are projections. National estimates are also available in the WDI database. Caution should be used when comparing ILO estimates with national estimates.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a unique source of information using international definitions of employment and unemployment and economic inactivity, together with a wide range of related topics such as occupation, training, hours of work and personal characteristics of household members aged 16 years and over. It is used to inform social, economic and employment policy. The LFS was first conducted biennially from 1973-1983. Between 1984 and 1991 the survey was carried out annually and consisted of a quarterly survey conducted throughout the year and a 'boost' survey in the spring quarter (data were then collected seasonally). From 1992 quarterly data were made available, with a quarterly sample size approximately equivalent to that of the previous annual data. The survey then became known as the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). From December 1994, data gathering for Northern Ireland moved to a full quarterly cycle to match the rest of the country, so the QLFS then covered the whole of the UK (though some additional annual Northern Ireland LFS datasets are also held at the UK Data Archive). Further information on the background to the QLFS may be found in the documentation.

New reweighting policy
Following the new reweighting policy ONS has reviewed the latest population estimates made available during 2019 and have decided not to carry out a 2019 LFS and APS reweighting exercise. Therefore, the next reweighting exercise will take place in 2020. These will incorporate the 2019 Sub-National Population Projection data (published in May 2020) and 2019 Mid-Year Estimates (published in June 2020). It is expected that reweighted Labour Market aggregates and microdata will be published towards the end of 2020/early 2021.

Secure Access QLFS household data
Up to 2015, the LFS household datasets were produced twice a year (April-June and October-December) from the corresponding quarter's individual-level data. From January 2015 onwards, they are now produced each quarter alongside the main QLFS. The household datasets include all the usual variables found in the individual-level datasets, with the exception of those relating to income, and are intended to facilitate the analysis of the economic activity patterns of whole households. It is recommended that the existing individual-level LFS datasets continue to be used for any analysis at individual level, and that the LFS household datasets be used for analysis involving household or family-level data. For some quarters, users should note that all missing values in the data are set to one '-10' category instead of the separate '-8' and '-9' categories. For that period, the ONS introduced a new imputation process for the LFS household datasets and it was necessary to code the missing values into one new combined category ('-10'), to avoid over-complication. From the 2013 household datasets, the standard -8 and -9 missing categories have been reinstated.

Secure Access household datasets for the QLFS are available from 2002 onwards, and include additional, detailed variables not included in the standard 'End User Licence' (EUL) versions. Extra variables that typically can be found in the Secure Access versions but not in the EUL versions relate to: geography; date of birth, including day; education and training; household and family characteristics; employment; unemployment and job hunting; accidents at work and work-related health problems; nationality, national identity and country of birth; occurence of learning difficulty or disability; and benefits.

Prospective users of a Secure Access version of the QLFS will need to fulfil additional requirements, commencing with the completion of an extra application form to demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the extra, more detailed variables, in order to obtain permission to use that version. Secure Access users must also complete face-to-face training and agree to Secure Access' User Agreement (see 'Access' section below). Therefore, users are encouraged to download and inspect the EUL version of the data prior to ordering the Secure Access version.

LFS Documentation
The documentation available from the Archive to accompany LFS datasets largely consists of each volume of the User Guide including the appropriate questionnaires for the years concerned. However, LFS volumes are updated periodically by ONS, so users are advised to check the ONS LFS User Guidance pages before commencing analysis.

The study documentation presented in the Documentation section includes the most recent documentation for the LFS only, due to available space. Documentation for previous years is provided alongside the data for access and is also available upon request.

Review of imputation methods...

Labor Force Participation Rate in the United Kingdom remained unchanged at 78.50 percent in January. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Labor Force Participation Rate- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

There were over 1.54 million unemployed people in the United Kingdom in the three months to January 2025, compared with just over 1.55 million in the previous month. In the provided time, there was a peak of 2.7 million people unemployed in November 2011, and a noticeable uptick in unemployment in 2020. The bump in unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic peaked at almost 1.8 million in December 2020, before falling to a low of 1.2 million in August 2022, before climbing up again to the most recent levels. Government plans to boost UK workforce Although the Labour Party inherited a relatively healthy unemployment rate of around four percent from the previous government, the UK's labor market is less robust than it first appears. The current level of economic inactivity, is seen as the more concerning figure, especially the rising share of people on long-term sick leave. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, at the end of 2019, there were around 2.08 million people economically inactive due to long-term sickness, with this figure increasing by around 740,000 by early 2024. Government plans to address the root cause of these issue, and improve incentives to work, were unveiled at the end of 2024, but may have come at an inopportune time. Labor market signals for 2025 Encouraging people back into work is one thing, making sure there are jobs there is another. Recent data suggests that the UK is continuing to cool off from an overheated labor market in 2022, which at one point saw 1.3 million job vacancies in the UK. Although the current level of job vacancies is at more usual levels, any further falls could spell trouble for the economy. In December 2024, the number of people on UK payrolls fell by 47,000, while the number of redundancies has started to climb. Some UK businesses have also signalled that they have, or plan to, lay off staff due to increased taxes set to come into force in the next financial year.

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the employment rate in the United Kingdom was highest among 35 to 49-year-old's, with 85.8 percent of that age group employed. In the same quarter, approximately 12.1 percent of over 65s were employed, a peak for this provided time period, while the employment rate for 16 to 24s fell to 50 percent, one of the lowest rates for this age group.