UK employment rate 2024

In September 2024, the employment rate in the United Kingdom was 74.8 percent, compared with 74.8 in the same period of 2023. 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.

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

Characteristic	Employment rate
Sep 24	74.8%
Aug 24	75%
Jul 24	74.8%
Jun 24	74.5%
May 24	74.4%
Apr 24	74.3%
Mar 24	74.5%
Feb 24	74.5%
Jan 24	74.8%
Dec 23	75%
Nov 23	75%
Oct 23	75.1%
Sep 23	74.8%
Aug 23	74.7%
Jul 23	74.9%
Jun 23	75.2%
May 23	75.5%
Apr 23	75.4%
Mar 23	75.3%
Feb 23	75.2%
Jan 23	75.2%
Dec 22	75.2%
Nov 22	75.2%
Oct 22	75%
Sep 22	75%
Aug 22	75%
Jul 22	74.9%
Jun 22	75%
May 22	75.4%
Apr 22	75.2%
Mar 22	75.1%
Feb 22	75%
Jan 22	75%
Dec 21	75%
Nov 21	75%
Oct 21	74.9%
Sep 21	74.9%
Aug 21	74.8%
Jul 21	74.7%
Jun 21	74.6%
May 21	74.3%
Apr 21	74.3%
Mar 21	74.2%
Feb 21	74.3%
Jan 21	74.1%
Dec 20	74.2%
Nov 20	74.5%
Oct 20	74.4%
Sep 20	74.5%
Aug 20	74.9%
Jul 20	75.2%
Jun 20	75.3%
May 20	75.5%
Apr 20	75.6%
Mar 20	75.9%
Feb 20	76.2%
Jan 20	76.1%
Dec 19	76.1%
Nov 19	76%
Oct 19	75.8%
Sep 19	75.7%
Aug 19	75.5%
Jul 19	75.8%
Jun 19	75.8%
May 19	75.7%
Apr 19	75.8%
Mar 19	75.7%
Feb 19	75.8%
Jan 19	75.8%
Dec 18	75.5%
Nov 18	75.5%
Oct 18	75.4%
Sep 18	75.3%
Aug 18	75.3%
Jul 18	75.2%
Jun 18	75.3%
May 18	75.4%
Apr 18	75.3%
Mar 18	75.3%
Feb 18	75.1%
Jan 18	75.1%
Dec 17	74.9%
Nov 17	75.1%
Oct 17	74.8%
Sep 17	74.8%
Aug 17	74.9%
Jul 17	75.1%
Jun 17	74.9%
May 17	74.7%
Apr 17	74.6%
Mar 17	74.6%
Feb 17	74.4%
Jan 17	74.3%
Dec 16	74.4%
Nov 16	74.3%
Oct 16	74.3%
Sep 16	74.3%
Aug 16	74.3%
Jul 16	74.3%
Jun 16	74.2%
May 16	74.2%
Apr 16	74%
Mar 16	74%
Feb 16	74%
Jan 16	73.9%
Dec 15	74%
Nov 15	73.9%
Oct 15	73.8%
Sep 15	73.6%
Aug 15	73.4%
Jul 15	73.4%
Jun 15	73.3%
May 15	73.2%
Apr 15	73.3%
Mar 15	73.3%
Feb 15	73.3%
Jan 15	73.2%
Dec 14	73.1%
Nov 14	72.9%
Oct 14	72.9%
Sep 14	72.9%
Aug 14	72.9%
Jul 14	72.7%
Jun 14	72.7%
May 14	72.8%
Apr 14	72.6%
Mar 14	72.4%
Feb 14	72.3%
Jan 14	72%
Dec 13	71.9%
Nov 13	72%
Oct 13	71.8%
Sep 13	71.6%
Aug 13	71.4%
Jul 13	71.4%
Jun 13	71.3%
May 13	71.2%
Apr 13	71.2%
Mar 13	71.1%
Feb 13	71.1%
Jan 13	71.3%
Dec 12	71.4%
Nov 12	71.3%
Oct 12	71%
Sep 12	71.1%
Aug 12	71.1%
Jul 12	71%
Jun 12	70.9%
May 12	70.6%
Apr 12	70.5%
Mar 12	70.5%
Feb 12	70.3%
Jan 12	70.2%
Dec 11	70.2%
Nov 11	70.1%
Oct 11	70.1%
Sep 11	70.1%
Aug 11	70.2%
Jul 11	70.2%
Jun 11	70.5%
May 11	70.5%
Apr 11	70.5%
Mar 11	70.5%
Feb 11	70.6%
Jan 11	70.5%
Dec 10	70.4%
Nov 10	70.3%
Oct 10	70.5%
Sep 10	70.7%
Aug 10	70.6%
Jul 10	70.6%
Jun 10	70.4%
May 10	70.4%
Apr 10	70.2%
Mar 10	70.2%
Feb 10	70.3%
Jan 10	70.4%
Dec 09	70.6%
Nov 09	70.6%
Oct 09	70.6%
Sep 09	70.6%
Aug 09	70.7%
Jul 09	70.6%
Jun 09	70.8%
May 09	71%
Apr 09	71.4%
Mar 09	71.7%
Feb 09	71.9%
Jan 09	72.2%
Dec 08	72.2%
Nov 08	72.3%
Oct 08	72.3%
Sep 08	72.4%
Aug 08	72.6%
Jul 08	72.8%
Jun 08	72.9%
May 08	73%
Apr 08	73%
Mar 08	73%
Feb 08	73%
Jan 08	72.9%
Dec 07	72.9%
Nov 07	72.8%
Oct 07	72.8%
Sep 07	72.7%
Aug 07	72.6%
Jul 07	72.6%
Jun 07	72.7%
May 07	72.7%
Apr 07	72.5%
Mar 07	72.5%
Feb 07	72.5%
Jan 07	72.6%
Dec 06	72.7%
Nov 06	72.7%
Oct 06	72.8%
Sep 06	72.8%
Aug 06	73%
Jul 06	72.9%
Jun 06	72.8%
May 06	72.8%
Apr 06	72.9%
Mar 06	72.9%
Feb 06	72.8%
Jan 06	72.8%
Dec 05	72.7%
Nov 05	72.8%
Oct 05	72.9%
Sep 05	73%
Aug 05	73%
Jul 05	73%
Jun 05	72.9%
May 05	72.9%
Apr 05	72.9%
Mar 05	73.1%
Feb 05	73.2%
Jan 05	73.1%
Dec 04	73%
Nov 04	73%
Oct 04	72.9%
Sep 04	72.9%
Aug 04	72.8%
Jul 04	72.8%
Jun 04	72.9%
May 04	72.9%
Apr 04	73%
Mar 04	73%
Feb 04	73%
Jan 04	73%
Dec 03	72.8%
Nov 03	72.8%
Oct 03	72.8%
Sep 03	72.8%
Aug 03	72.8%
Jul 03	72.8%
Jun 03	72.9%
May 03	72.8%
Apr 03	72.7%
Mar 03	72.7%
Feb 03	72.6%
Jan 03	72.8%
Dec 02	72.9%
Nov 02	72.8%
Oct 02	72.7%
Sep 02	72.6%
Aug 02	72.7%
Jul 02	72.6%
Jun 02	72.7%
May 02	72.6%
Apr 02	72.6%
Mar 02	72.5%
Feb 02	72.5%
Jan 02	72.5%
Dec 01	72.6%
Nov 01	72.6%
Oct 01	72.5%
Sep 01	72.5%
Aug 01	72.6%
Jul 01	72.6%
Jun 01	72.7%
May 01	72.7%
Apr 01	72.7%
Mar 01	72.6%
Feb 01	72.6%
Jan 01	72.7%
Dec 00	72.5%
Nov 00	72.4%
Oct 00	72.5%
Sep 00	72.6%
Aug 00	72.7%
Jul 00	72.6%
Jun 00	72.5%
May 00	72.4%
Apr 00	72.3%
Mar 00	72.3%
Feb 00	72.2%
Jan 00	72.2%

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Release date

November 2024

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

January 2000 to September 2024

Age group

16-64 years

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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