The employment rate in London was 75.6 percent in the twelve months to December 2024, which was higher than in England's metropolitan counties, that cover six major urban areas in the country. Of these counties, the West Midlands had the lowest employment rate of 69.5 percent.

In the three months to April 2025, there were approximately 761,000 job vacancies in the UK, the fewest number of job vacancies since April 2021. The number of job vacancies in the United Kingdom reached a record high of 1.3 million in the three months to May 2022, with the number of vacancies steadily falling since then. During the provided time period, the number of job vacancies fell to its lowest levels in the months leading to June 2020, at just 328,000, at the height of COVID-19 restrictions. Tight labor market beginning to loosen After weathering the economic storm of COVID-19, the UK labor market has been reasonably healthy since 2021. The unemployment rate, which reached 5.1 percent in late 2020, declined in the following months, to a post-pandemic low of 3.5 percent by August 2022. Since that point, however, the unemployment rate has crept up, and was 4.4 percent in November 2024. Resignations have also started to decline, after reaching a peak of 442,000 in the second quarter of 2022, there were just 181,000 in the third quarter of 2024. Which industries are experiencing staff shortages? The percentage of businesses reporting a staff shortage in the UK reached 15.7 percent in September 2022, before falling to just 9.7 percent by October 2023, another indication of a loosening labor market. According to data from that month, approximately 1 in 4 UK businesses in the accommodation and food services had a shortage of staff, the highest of any sector, followed by human health and social work at 18.4 percent, and manufacturing at 17.6 percent. Many of the recent struggles of Britain's National Health Service are directly related to staff shortages, with the public seeing a shortage of doctors and nurses, and overworked staff as some of the main problems facing the NHS.

The census is undertaken by the Office for National Statistics every 10 years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales. The most recent census took place in March of 2021.The census asks every household questions about the people who live there and the type of home they live in. In doing so, it helps to build a detailed snapshot of society. Information from the census helps the government and local authorities to plan and fund local services, such as education, doctors' surgeries and roads.Key census statistics for Leicester are published on the open data platform to make information accessible to local services, voluntary and community groups, and residents. There is also a dashboard published showcasing various datasets from the census allowing users to view data for Leicester and compare this with national statistics.Further information about the census and full datasets can be found on the ONS website - https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/aboutcensus/censusproductsEconomic activityThis dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 16 years and over in England and Wales by economic activity status. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.Definition: People aged 16 years and over are economically active if, between 15 March and 21 March 2021, they were:in employment (an employee or self-employed)unemployed, but looking for work and could start within two weeksunemployed, but waiting to start a job that had been offered and acceptedIt is a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market during this period. Economically inactive are those aged 16 years and over who did not have a job between 15 March to 21 March 2021 and had not looked for work between 22 February to 21 March 2021 or could not start work within two weeks.The census definition differs from International Labour Organization definition used on the Labour Force Survey, so estimates are not directly comparable.This dataset contains details for Leicester city and England overall.

London had the highest unemployment rate among regions of the United Kingdom in the first quarter of 2025 at ****percent, while for the UK as a whole, the unemployment rate was ****percent. Three other regions also had an unemployment rate higher than the national average, while Northern Ireland had the lowest unemployment rate in this time period, at ****percent. Labor market recovery after COVID-19 After reaching historically low levels of unemployment in 2019, there was a noticeable spike in the UK unemployment rate in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. After peaking at ****percent in late 2020, the unemployment rate declined throughout 2021 and 2022. High levels of job vacancies, resignations, and staff shortages in 2022, were all indicative of a very tight labor market that year, but all these measures have started to point in the direction of a slightly looser labor market. UK's regional economic divide While the North of England has some of the country’s largest cities, the sheer size and economic power of London is much larger than the UK's other urban agglomerations. Partly, due to the size of London, the United Kingdom is one of Europe’s most centralized counties, and there is a clear divide between the economic prospects of north and south England. In 2022, for example, the gross domestic product per head in London was ****** British pounds, far higher than the UK average of *******pounds, and significantly larger than North East England, the region with the lowest GDP per head at *******pounds.

Unemployment Rate in the United Kingdom increased to 4.50 percent in March from 4.40 percent in February of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In the first quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom was highest in Wales, where it was 5.2 percent, followed by England at 4.4 percent, Scotland at 4.3 percent, and 1.6 percent in Northern Ireland, the lowest rate among the four countries of the UK. For all four countries, the peak in unemployment during this period was in the early 2010s. England and Scotland's unemployment rates were highest in Q4 2011 at 8.4 percent and 8.6 percent respectively, with unemployment reaching 9.7 percent in Wales during Q3 2011. Northern Ireland reported its highest unemployment rate in Q1 of 2013 when it reached eight percent. Unemployment ticking up as UK enters 2025 For the United Kingdom as a whole, the unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in November 2024, the joint-highest rate recorded since August 2021. After reaching 8.5 percent in late 2011, unemployment in the UK fell quite consistently for several years, with this recovery interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw unemployment rise to 5.3 percent in late 2020 and early 2021. From this point onwards, however, the labor market bounced back, and was particular strong in 2022 when there were a record number of job vacancies and unemployment fell to as low as 3.6 percent. While the labor market cooled throughout 2023 and 2024, unemployment remained at historically low levels. Overall economy grows but GDP per head falls Throughout the whole of 2024, gross domestic product in the UK grew by 0.9 percent, but in the third quarter of the year, there was no economic growth, followed by the relatively weak growth rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, GDP per head in the UK, declined for a second-consecutive year, and was just 36,977 pounds in 2024, compared with 37,371 pounds in 2022. Inflation, meanwhile, has fallen from the peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022, but was still at the relatively high rate of 4 percent at the start of 2024, with this falling to 2.5 percent by the end of the year.

FOCUSON**LONDON**2011:**LABOUR**MARKET:**BEYOND**HEADLINES

In 2009, the overall proportion of the London working-age population who were in work was around two percentage points below the UK figure but this does not begin to tell the story of London’s labour market. London is a complex city of extremes with significant differences between various sub-groups of population. It is important to understand which groups are doing well and those doing poorly.

This report, authored by Gareth Piggott in the Intelligence Unit, aims to shed light on some of the complexities of London’s labour market, beyond headline findings. It looks at employment rates and pay for different groups within the population and compares London with other regions and the UK average.

REPORT:

Read the report in PDF format.

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PRESENTATION:

What factors influence a Londoner’s pay and probability of employment? This interactive presentation finds the answer to this question.

View the Labour Market Beyond Headlines presentation on Prezi

MOTION CHART:

This motion chart shows how the relationship, between a selection of labour market related indicators at borough level, changes over time.

Motion chart

MAP:

These interactive borough maps help to geographically present a range of labour market data within London.

Interactive Maps

DATA:

All the data contained within the Labour Market: Beyond Headlines report as well as the data used to create the charts and maps can be accessed in this spreadsheet.

FACTS:

Some interesting facts from the data…

● Five boroughs with the highest employment rates among Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups in 2009:

1. Bromley – 85 per cent
2. Sutton – 81 per cent
3. Havering – 78 per cent
4. Richmond – 76 per cent
5. Harrow – 75 per cent

-31. Haringey – 53 per cent

-32. Tower Hamlets – 52 per cent

● Five boroughs with the highest rate of immigrants registering for a national insurance number in 2009/10 (per 10,000 residents):

1. Newham – 1,779
2. Brent – 1,142
3. Tower Hamlets - 784
4. Waltham Forest - 664
5. Ealing - 648

-32. Bromley - 90

-33. Havering - 82

● Five boroughs with the highest percentage of residents working part-time:

1. Sutton – 21 per cent
2. Bexley – 20 per cent
3. Hillingdon – 17 per cent
4. Bromley – 17 per cent
5. Harrow – 16 per cent

-31. Tower Hamlets – 10 per cent

-32. Westminster – 10 per cent

As of the first quarter of 2025, the youth unemployment rate in the UK was highest in London at 18.6 percent, compared with the UK average of 14.2 percent. As of this quarter, Northern Ireland had the lowest youth unemployment rate at just 5.1 percent.

As of the first quarter of 2025, the average weekly number of hours worked by full-time workers in the United Kingdom was 36.5 hours. During this period, there is a dramatic drop observable in 2020, when the average number of working hours fell sharply due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employment in the financial services sector in the United Kingdom fell between 2001 and 2021. The total number of people employed in this sector amounted to approximately 1.1 million in 2021, a figure that is unchanged since 2009. This was a decrease compared to pre-global recession figures, when on the British market there were 1.2 million people employed in all subsectors of financial services. These figures have decreased as a result of the crisis and closure of bank branches across the country.

The closing of bank branches

The increasing usage of online banking has resulted in a large number of bank branch closures in the United Kingdom. Many banks have seen dramatic declines in their number of branches in the last few years. The branch closures have become a way for the banks of decreasing expenditure as profit margins become tighter.

Financial service sector

Financial services, which include banks, credit unions, credit-card companies, accountancy firms, insurance companies as well as financial service companies are an integral part of any economy. The banking sector assets as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately 378 percent in 2019.

As of 2024, approximately 7.4 percent of businesses in the United Kingdom were experiencing worker shortages. Around 12 percent of arts, entertainment and recreation businesses had a staff shortage at this time, the most of any industry sector.

As of July 2023, the majority of internet users in the United Kingdom (UK) were full-time employees. According to a survey conducted in the market between July 2022 and July 2023, roughly 54 percent of internet users in the country worked full-time. Furthermore, 13 percent of online users were employed part-time, and 10 percent stated to be unemployed.

As of May 31, 2024, Nike employed over 79 thousand workers worldwide. This is a decrease compared to the previous fiscal year. Nike, Inc. is a sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. Nike’s shoe division Footwear is Nike’s most lucrative product division in North America, with apparel ranking in second and equipment in third place. Nike produces and retails some of the most well-known and widely recognized shoes in the world, including Nike Air Max and Nike Air Force. The brand is known by almost everyone: according to a 2023 Statista survey, some 95 percent of online sporting & outdoor goods shoppers in the United States were at least aware of the brand's existence. When was Nike founded? Nike was founded in January 1964 under the original name Blue Ribbon Shorts. The company's headquarters are located near Beaverton, Oregon, and they officially became known as Nike, Inc. in May 1971. Nike is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. As of May 31, 2024, there were over 1,000 Nike retail stores located around the world. Much of Nike's success can be attributed to the brands’ worldwide marketing campaigns, which use sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes, professional sports teams, and college athletic programs. The fiscal year end of the company is May, 31st.