Number of people employed in the UK 1971-2024
There were just over 33.2 million people employed in the United Kingdom in the three months to July 2024. In 2023, employment figures reached a peak of 33.3 million workers in April, while May 1983 had the fewest number of people employed, at just over 23.6 million. Employment figures have gradually been increasing since that point, with noticeable drops in employment occurring in the early 1990s, the late 2000s, and throughout 2020, corresponding to economic recessions and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Labor market staying strong in 2024
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 months since then, the UK labor market has cooled slightly; with unemployment bumping up to 4.2 percent and the number of job vacancies falling from their May 2022 peak.
Characteristics of UK workers
As of the fourth quarter of 2023, the majority of UK workers were working in the private sector, at 27.2 million workers. In the same quarter the size of the UK's public sector workforce stood at approximately 5.93 million, with around 1.98 million of these people working for the UK's National Health Service (NHS), and a further 1.5 million in the public education sector. In the UK's private sector, the industry sector which 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 3.08 million.