UK unemployment rate 2024

The unemployment rate of the United Kingdom was 4.3 percent in September 2024, an increase from the previous month. Before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK had relatively low levels of unemployment, comparable with the mid-1970s. Between January 2000 and the most recent month, unemployment was highest in November 2011 when the unemployment rate hit 8.5 percent.

Tight labor market loosens in 2023

After reaching 5.1 percent in January 2021, the UK unemployment fell throughout that year and into 2022, eventually reaching a low of just 3.5 percent in August 2022. This was followed by a slight uptick in unemployment, which corresponded with other signs of a cooling labor market in 2023. The number of job vacancies in the UK has been falling since reaching a peak of 1.3 million in May 2022, falling to a two-year low of 934,000 in December 2023. Recent forecasts suggest that the average unemployment rate for the whole of 2023 was 4.3 percent, increasing to 4.6 percent in 2024 and 2025 before gradually falling in the following years.

Demographics of the unemployed

Ever since the UK unemployment rate for men first overtook that of women in the late 1980s, it has almost always been higher, with a gap of almost three percent recorded in early 1993. During the financial crisis at the end of the 2000s, the unemployment rate for women peaked at 7.8 percent, whereas for men, the rate was 9.1 percent. Unemployment is also heavily associated with age, and young people in general are far more vulnerable to unemployment than older age groups. In late 2011, for example, the unemployment rate for those aged between 16 and 24 reached almost 22.5 percent, compared with 8.3 percent for people aged 25 to 34, while older age groups had even lower peaks during this time.

Unemployment rate in the United Kingdom from January 2000 to September 2024

Characteristic	Unemployment rate
Sep 24	4.3%
Aug 24	4%
Jul 24	4.1%
Jun 24	4.2%
May 24	4.4%
Apr 24	4.4%
Mar 24	4.3%
Feb 24	4.2%
Jan 24	4%
Dec 23	3.8%
Nov 23	3.9%
Oct 23	4%
Sep 23	4.1%
Aug 23	4.2%
Jul 23	4.3%
Jun 23	4.2%
May 23	4%
Apr 23	3.9%
Mar 23	4%
Feb 23	3.9%
Jan 23	3.8%
Dec 22	3.9%
Nov 22	3.8%
Oct 22	3.9%
Sep 22	3.8%
Aug 22	3.6%
Jul 22	3.7%
Jun 22	3.9%
May 22	3.9%
Apr 22	4%
Mar 22	3.9%
Feb 22	4%
Jan 22	4.1%
Dec 21	4.2%
Nov 21	4.2%
Oct 21	4.3%
Sep 21	4.4%
Aug 21	4.6%
Jul 21	4.7%
Jun 21	4.8%
May 21	5%
Apr 21	5%
Mar 21	5.1%
Feb 21	5.2%
Jan 21	5.3%
Dec 20	5.3%
Nov 20	5.2%
Oct 20	5.2%
Sep 20	5%
Aug 20	4.7%
Jul 20	4.4%
Jun 20	4.2%
May 20	4.2%
Apr 20	4.2%
Mar 20	4.1%
Feb 20	4.1%
Jan 20	4%
Dec 19	3.9%
Nov 19	3.9%
Oct 19	3.9%
Sep 19	3.9%
Aug 19	4%
Jul 19	3.9%
Jun 19	4%
May 19	3.9%
Apr 19	3.9%
Mar 19	3.9%
Feb 19	4%
Jan 19	4%
Dec 18	4.1%
Nov 18	4.1%
Oct 18	4.1%
Sep 18	4.2%
Aug 18	4.1%
Jul 18	4.1%
Jun 18	4.1%
May 18	4.2%
Apr 18	4.3%
Mar 18	4.3%
Feb 18	4.3%
Jan 18	4.4%
Dec 17	4.4%
Nov 17	4.3%
Oct 17	4.3%
Sep 17	4.3%
Aug 17	4.4%
Jul 17	4.4%
Jun 17	4.5%
May 17	4.5%
Apr 17	4.6%
Mar 17	4.6%
Feb 17	4.7%
Jan 17	4.8%
Dec 16	4.8%
Nov 16	4.9%
Oct 16	4.9%
Sep 16	4.9%
Aug 16	5%
Jul 16	4.9%
Jun 16	5%
May 16	5%
Apr 16	5.1%
Mar 16	5.1%
Feb 16	5.2%
Jan 16	5.1%
Dec 15	5.1%
Nov 15	5.1%
Oct 15	5.2%
Sep 15	5.4%
Aug 15	5.4%
Jul 15	5.6%
Jun 15	5.6%
May 15	5.7%
Apr 15	5.5%
Mar 15	5.6%
Feb 15	5.6%
Jan 15	5.7%
Dec 14	5.7%
Nov 14	5.9%
Oct 14	6%
Sep 14	6%
Aug 14	6%
Jul 14	6.2%
Jun 14	6.3%
May 14	6.5%
Apr 14	6.6%
Mar 14	6.8%
Feb 14	6.9%
Jan 14	7.2%
Dec 13	7.2%
Nov 13	7.2%
Oct 13	7.4%
Sep 13	7.6%
Aug 13	7.7%
Jul 13	7.7%
Jun 13	7.8%
May 13	7.8%
Apr 13	7.8%
Mar 13	7.9%
Feb 13	8%
Jan 13	7.8%
Dec 12	7.8%
Nov 12	7.8%
Oct 12	7.9%
Sep 12	7.9%
Aug 12	7.9%
Jul 12	8%
Jun 12	8%
May 12	8.1%
Apr 12	8.2%
Mar 12	8.2%
Feb 12	8.3%
Jan 12	8.4%
Dec 11	8.4%
Nov 11	8.5%
Oct 11	8.4%
Sep 11	8.3%
Aug 11	8.2%
Jul 11	8%
Jun 11	7.9%
May 11	7.8%
Apr 11	7.7%
Mar 11	7.8%
Feb 11	7.8%
Jan 11	7.9%
Dec 10	7.9%
Nov 10	7.9%
Oct 10	7.9%
Sep 10	7.8%
Aug 10	7.8%
Jul 10	7.8%
Jun 10	7.9%
May 10	7.9%
Apr 10	8%
Mar 10	8%
Feb 10	7.9%
Jan 10	7.7%
Dec 09	7.8%
Nov 09	7.8%
Oct 09	7.9%
Sep 09	7.8%
Aug 09	7.9%
Jul 09	7.9%
Jun 09	7.8%
May 09	7.6%
Apr 09	7.3%
Mar 09	7.1%
Feb 09	6.7%
Jan 09	6.5%
Dec 08	6.4%
Nov 08	6.2%
Oct 08	6%
Sep 08	5.9%
Aug 08	5.7%
Jul 08	5.5%
Jun 08	5.4%
May 08	5.2%
Apr 08	5.3%
Mar 08	5.2%
Feb 08	5.2%
Jan 08	5.2%
Dec 07	5.2%
Nov 07	5.2%
Oct 07	5.2%
Sep 07	5.3%
Aug 07	5.3%
Jul 07	5.3%
Jun 07	5.4%
May 07	5.4%
Apr 07	5.5%
Mar 07	5.5%
Feb 07	5.5%
Jan 07	5.5%
Dec 06	5.5%
Nov 06	5.4%
Oct 06	5.5%
Sep 06	5.5%
Aug 06	5.5%
Jul 06	5.5%
Jun 06	5.5%
May 06	5.4%
Apr 06	5.3%
Mar 06	5.2%
Feb 06	5.2%
Jan 06	5.1%
Dec 05	5.1%
Nov 05	5.1%
Oct 05	4.9%
Sep 05	4.7%
Aug 05	4.7%
Jul 05	4.7%
Jun 05	4.8%
May 05	4.8%
Apr 05	4.7%
Mar 05	4.7%
Feb 05	4.8%
Jan 05	4.7%
Dec 04	4.7%
Nov 04	4.7%
Oct 04	4.7%
Sep 04	4.7%
Aug 04	4.7%
Jul 04	4.8%
Jun 04	4.8%
May 04	4.8%
Apr 04	4.8%
Mar 04	4.8%
Feb 04	4.8%
Jan 04	4.8%
Dec 03	4.9%
Nov 03	4.9%
Oct 03	5%
Sep 03	5%
Aug 03	5.1%
Jul 03	5.1%
Jun 03	4.9%
May 03	5%
Apr 03	5.1%
Mar 03	5.2%
Feb 03	5.1%
Jan 03	5%
Dec 02	5.1%
Nov 02	5.2%
Oct 02	5.2%
Sep 02	5.3%
Aug 02	5.2%
Jul 02	5.2%
Jun 02	5.2%
May 02	5.2%
Apr 02	5.2%
Mar 02	5.2%
Feb 02	5.1%
Jan 02	5.2%
Dec 01	5.2%
Nov 01	5.1%
Oct 01	5.1%
Sep 01	5.1%
Aug 01	5.1%
Jul 01	5%
Jun 01	5%
May 01	4.9%
Apr 01	5%
Mar 01	5.1%
Feb 01	5.2%
Jan 01	5.2%
Dec 00	5.2%
Nov 00	5.3%
Oct 00	5.4%
Sep 00	5.3%
Aug 00	5.3%
Jul 00	5.3%
Jun 00	5.5%
May 00	5.6%
Apr 00	5.7%
Mar 00	5.8%
Feb 00	5.8%
Jan 00	5.9%

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Release date

November 2024

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

January 2000 to September 2024

Age group

16 years and older

Supplementary notes

This statistic is using original data from the Office for National Statistics and includes copyright material from © Crown, licensed under the Open Government License v3.0.

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