There were almost 34.2 million people employed in the United Kingdom in the three months to September 2025. 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 that 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.

Workforce jobs by industry, employee jobs by industry and self-employment jobs by industry. UK, published quarterly.

Workforce jobs by industry, UK countries and English regions, published quarterly, seasonally adjusted.

In 2025, there were over **** million filled jobs in human health and social work in the United Kingdom, the most of any industry. In wholesale and retail, there were around *** million filled jobs, making it the second most common industry in terms of employment.

There were estimated to be over 36.8 million workforce jobs in the United Kingdom's economy as of the second quarter of 2025, compared with 36.9 million in the previous quarter.

39.8% of workers from the Indian ethnic group were in 'professional' jobs in 2021 – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups in this role.

Employment by industry and sex, UK, published quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.

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

Workforce Jobs (WFJ) is a quarterly measure of the number of jobs in the UK and is the preferred measure of the change in jobs by industry. It is a compound source that draws on a range of employer surveys, household surveys and administrative sources. WFJ is the sum of employee jobs measured primarily by employer surveys, self-employment jobs from the Labour Force Survey, and government-supported trainees and Her Majesty's Forces from administrative sources. The spreadsheet shows change since last quarter and last year, with graphs displaying these trends. Data is available by industry from NOMIS WEB. Data back to Sep 1981 available for the UK, and back to March 1996 for UK regions (included in spreadsheet). Seasonally adjusted. The figures in this dataset are adjusted to compensate for seasonal variations in employment. UK totals include overseas based HM Forces personnel that cannot be assigned to a region. Supporting information is now available to identify a small number of estimates that are deemed unreliable from https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/654.aspx. Data is rounded to the nearest 1000. Relevant link: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/ For Borough level modelled estimates and projections of jobs see the GLA Employment Projections. Note - previously published figures may differ slightly from those published in December 2024 due to revisions made by Nomis. Find more information here: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/1414.aspx?utm_source

In the second quarter of 2025, there were approximately 28 million people working in the private sector of the United Kingdom, compared with 21.9 million in 2000.

The Labour Market statistics First Release gives the results of several separate revisions to the workforce jobs series. These are included together with a description of each type of revision. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: WFJ

Employment levels and rates by country of birth and nationality, UK, published quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.

Publication changes: Please read the section on 'Notes on changes to publications' within the PDF report as this highlights changes to data currently published and potentially the frequency of future reports. This report shows monthly numbers of NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) staff groups working in Trusts and CCGs in England (excluding primary care staff). Data is available as headcount and full-time equivalents. This data is an accurate summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS's HR and Payroll system. In addition to the regular monthly reports there are a series of quarterly reports (first published on 26 July 2016 looking at the data for March 2016) which include statistics on staff in Trusts and CCGs and information for NHS Support Organisations and Central Bodies. The quarterly analysis will be published each September (showing June statistics), December (showing September statistics), March (showing December statistics), and June (showing March statistics). Additional healthcare workforce data relating to GPs and the Independent Healthcare Provider workforce are also available. Links to these data are available below. We welcome feedback on the methodology and tables within this publication. Please email us with your comments and suggestions, clearly stating Monthly HCHS Workforce as the subject heading, via enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk or 0300 303 5678

Key information about United Kingdom Labour Force Participation Rate

• United Kingdom Labour Force Participation Rate remained the same rate at 63.9 % in Aug 2025, compared with 63.9 % in the previous month.
• UK Labour Force Participation Rate is updated monthly, available from Jan 2011 to Aug 2025, with an average rate of 63.9 % .
• The data reached the an all-time high of 64.6 % in Jan 2020 and a record low of 62.7 % in Dec 2023.
• UK Labour Force Participation Rate is reported by reported by Office for National Statistics.
• In the latest reports, UK Population reached 69.5 million people in Dec 2025.
• Unemployment Rate of UK increased to 5.0 % in Aug 2025.
• The country's Monthly Earnings stood at 3,960.0 USD in Sep 2025.

Numbers of jobs of employees and the self employed in London, 1996 to 2014; annual estimates based on quarterly Workforce Jobs series data, with breakdowns by industry (SIC 2007 sections A to S).