UK unemployment rate by country 2024

In the third quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom was highest in Wales, where it was 5.3 percent, followed by England at 4.4 percent, Scotland at 3.3 percent, and two 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 low as UK enters 2024

For the United Kingdom as a whole, the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, one of the lowest rates since 1974. After reaching 8.5 percent in late 2011, unemployment in the UK has fallen quite noticeably in recent years, despite an uptick in the aftermath of COVID-19 when unemployment rose to 5.3 percent in 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 somewhat in 2023, unemployment remains at historically low levels going into 2024.

UK falls into recession at the end of 2023

Despite unemployment remaining quite low, other economic indicators point to a troubled economic picture for the UK. Throughout the whole of 2023, gross domestic product in the UK grew by only 0.1 percent, and in the last half of the year, there were two quarters of negative growth, meaning the UK started 2024 in a technical recession. Inflation meanwhile, although significantly down from the peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022, was still at the relatively high rate of four percent at the start of 2024. This reduction in inflation also probably came at the expense of economic growth, with interest rates steadily increasing throughout 2023.

Unemployment rate in the United Kingdom from 1st quarter 2000 to 3rd quarter 2024, by country

Characteristic	England	Scotland	Wales	Northern Ireland
Q3 2024	4.4%	3.3%	5.3%	2%
Q2 2024	4.2%	4.4%	3.8%	1.9%
Q1 2024	4.4%	4.4%	3.3%	2.1%
Q4 2023	3.8%	4.5%	3.5%	2.6%
Q3 2023	4.1%	4.4%	3.4%	2.2%
Q2 2023	4.2%	4%	5%	2.6%
Q1 2023	4.1%	3.4%	4.5%	2.4%
Q4 2022	4%	3.4%	3.6%	2.5%
Q3 2022	3.8%	3.5%	3.7%	3.3%
Q2 2022	3.9%	3.2%	3.8%	2.7%
Q1 2022	3.8%	3.2%	3%	2.6%
Q4 2021	4.1%	4.1%	3.1%	3.2%
Q3 2021	4.3%	4.1%	3.8%	4.3%
Q2 2021	4.8%	4.3%	4.1%	4.3%
Q1 2021	5%	4.5%	4.5%	4.2%
Q4 2020	5.4%	4.6%	4.5%	3.8%
Q3 2020	5%	4.6%	4.6%	3.4%
Q2 2020	4.2%	4.5%	2.7%	2.8%
Q1 2020	4.1%	4.2%	3.2%	2.5%
Q4 2019	3.9%	3.5%	2.9%	2.4%
Q3 2019	3.9%	4%	3.8%	2.5%
Q2 2019	3.9%	3.6%	3.9%	3.1%
Q1 2019	3.9%	3.2%	4.5%	2.9%
Q4 2018	4.1%	3.5%	4.1%	3.8%
Q3 2018	4.1%	3.8%	4.1%	3.8%
Q2 2018	4%	4.1%	4%	3.7%
Q1 2018	4.2%	4.3%	4.3%	3%
Q4 2017	4.3%	4.4%	5.1%	4.1%
Q3 2017	4.3%	4.2%	4.5%	4%
Q2 2017	4.5%	3.9%	4.1%	5.1%
Q1 2017	4.6%	4.2%	4.6%	5.3%
Q4 2016	4.7%	4.7%	4.5%	5.4%
Q3 2016	4.8%	4.9%	4.8%	5.6%
Q2 2016	4.9%	5.2%	4%	5.8%
Q1 2016	5%	5.9%	4.6%	6.1%
Q4 2015	5%	5.6%	5.3%	5.9%
Q3 2015	5.2%	6.2%	6.4%	6%
Q2 2015	5.6%	5.7%	5.6%	6.3%
Q1 2015	5.4%	5.8%	6.5%	6.2%
Q4 2014	5.7%	5.3%	6.7%	5.8%
Q3 2014	5.9%	6.1%	7%	6.2%
Q2 2014	6.3%	6.4%	6.3%	6.5%
Q1 2014	6.8%	6.3%	6.6%	7.1%
Q4 2013	7.2%	7.2%	7%	7.3%
Q3 2013	7.6%	7.4%	8.1%	7.4%
Q2 2013	7.8%	7.3%	7.8%	7.3%
Q1 2013	7.9%	7.2%	8%	8%
Q4 2012	7.8%	7.6%	8.6%	7.6%
Q3 2012	7.8%	8.2%	8.6%	7.7%
Q2 2012	8%	8%	8.2%	7.7%
Q1 2012	8.2%	8.2%	8.9%	6.7%
Q4 2011	8.4%	8.6%	8.9%	7%
Q3 2011	8.3%	8.1%	9.7%	7.3%
Q2 2011	7.9%	7.9%	8.4%	7.3%
Q1 2011	7.8%	7.9%	7.9%	7.3%
Q4 2010	7.8%	7.9%	8.3%	7.9%
Q3 2010	7.7%	8.4%	8%	6.9%
Q2 2010	7.8%	8.4%	8.9%	6.6%
Q1 2010	7.9%	8.3%	9.4%	6.9%
Q4 2009	7.8%	7.6%	8.5%	5.9%
Q3 2009	7.9%	7.2%	8.7%	7%
Q2 2009	7.9%	7.1%	7.7%	6.5%
Q1 2009	7.2%	6%	7.6%	6.2%
Q4 2008	6.5%	5.2%	7%	5.2%
Q3 2008	6%	4.7%	6.5%	4.1%
Q2 2008	5.5%	4.2%	5.2%	3.9%
Q1 2008	5.3%	4.7%	5.2%	4.5%
Q4 2007	5.2%	4.8%	5%	4.2%
Q3 2007	5.4%	4.9%	5.1%	3.9%
Q2 2007	5.5%	4.6%	5.7%	3.6%
Q1 2007	5.6%	5%	5.5%	4.1%
Q4 2006	5.6%	5.1%	5.3%	4.3%
Q3 2006	5.6%	5%	5.3%	4.8%
Q2 2006	5.5%	5.6%	5.8%	4.2%
Q1 2006	5.3%	5.4%	4.7%	4.2%
Q4 2005	5.2%	5.1%	4.9%	4.6%
Q3 2005	4.7%	5.4%	4.6%	4.3%
Q2 2005	4.7%	5.5%	4.5%	4.9%
Q1 2005	4.6%	5.5%	4.5%	4.7%
Q4 2004	4.7%	5.6%	4.2%	4.7%
Q3 2004	4.6%	5.2%	4.9%	5.1%
Q2 2004	4.7%	6%	4.2%	5%
Q1 2004	4.7%	5.8%	4.6%	5.2%
Q4 2003	4.8%	5.8%	4.8%	6.3%
Q3 2003	5%	5.9%	4.7%	5.6%
Q2 2003	4.9%	5.3%	4.5%	5.1%
Q1 2003	5.1%	5.9%	4.9%	5.3%
Q4 2002	5%	6.1%	5.1%	5.6%
Q3 2002	5.2%	6.4%	5.2%	6.2%
Q2 2002	5%	6.3%	5.6%	5.5%
Q1 2002	5%	6.6%	5.7%	6.2%
Q4 2001	5%	6.7%	5.8%	5.8%
Q3 2001	4.9%	6.7%	5.5%	6%
Q2 2001	4.8%	6.2%	6.1%	6%
Q1 2001	4.9%	6%	6.1%	6.3%
Q4 2000	5.1%	6.3%	5.8%	6%
Q3 2000	5.1%	6.6%	6.7%	5.5%
Q2 2000	5.3%	7%	6.1%	6.7%
Q1 2000	5.5%	7.5%	6.7%	6.6%

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Release date

November 2024

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

Q1 2000to Q3 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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