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Making learning and work count Labour market LIVE from Learning and Work Institute 14 September 2021
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Chart 1: UK unemployment (ILO) The latest unemployment rate has fallen by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6% compared to last month's figures. The experimental weekly statistics show a further fall to 4.1% at the end of July. ![]() |
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Chart 2: The claimant count and UK unemployment compared The number of unemployed people who are claiming unemployment-related benefits is now 642,900 higher than the number of unemployed in the official measure. This difference is highly unusual - due to differences in defining unemployment the official measure is normally higher than the claimant measure. ![]() |
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Chart 3: Youth unemployment The number of unemployed young people declined by 5,000 since last month’s figures, to 525,000. Meanwhile, the number of young Universal Credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants is down by last month by 12,200, to 391,300. ![]() |
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Chart 4: Young people not in employment, full-time education or training The number of out of work young people who are not in full-time education (851,000) fell by 80,000 in the last quarter, or 8.6%. The fall was evenly divided between the unemployed and the inactive, though proportionately larger for the smaller group of the unemployed. ![]() |
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Chart 5: Youth long-term unemployment (six months and over, 18-24) Youth long-term unemployment (which can include students) has fallen by 26,000 over the last quarter and is now 193,000 ![]() |
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Chart 6: Adult long-term unemployment (12 months and over, 25+) Adult long-term unemployment on the survey measure is now 347,000. This is the highest level since 2016. ![]() |
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Chart 7: Unemployment rates by age The 18 to 24 year old unemployment rate (including students) is 11.0% of the economically active – excluding one million economically inactive students from the calculation. The rate for those aged 25 to 49 is 3.5%. For those aged 50 and over it is 3.3%. The quarterly change is down 1.0 percentage points for 18 to 24 year olds, down 0.2 points for 25 to 49 year olds, and down 0.3 points for the over-50s. ![]() |
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Chart 8: Unemployment rate changes by age (counting February 2020 as 100) The 18 to 24 year old unemployment rate (including students) is 0.5 percentage points higher than in February 2020. The change for those aged 25 to 34 is up 0.8 points. The change for those aged 35 to 49 is up 0.7 points. The change for those aged 50 to 64 is up 0.4 points. The change for those aged over 65 is up 0.1 points. ![]() Chart 9: Vacancies – whole economy survey Headline vacancies this month increased by 75,000 to 1,034,000. The ONS' experimental single-month vacancy figures has risen by 210,000 in the last quarter to 1,123,000. The headline ONS vacancy figure is both seasonally adjusted and a three-month average. The chart shows both series. ![]() |
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Chart 10: Experimental single month vacancies – whole economy survey change since 2019 The Office for National Statistics' experimental single month vacancy estimates include sectoral information. Here, we show the changes on the same month two years ago, before the pandemic. The data is not seasonally adjusted, so comparisons with the same month each year are better. The numbers are thousands of vacancies, under each number, and on the right, the change in thousands of vacancies. ![]() |
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Chart 11: Unemployed people per vacancy There are 1.6 unemployed people per vacancy. This has now reached the same level as pre-pandemic levels. ![]() |
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Chart 12: Online vacancies to early September from Adzuna The online vacancies figures covering the period up to Friday, September 3, 2021 show that that vacancies remained at a very high level compared to the whole period since February 2018 (when this data starts). Overall online vacancies are up to 128% of the Feb 2020 level. They are 5% from their peak. Compared with the same week in 2018, the overall vacancy level is up 10%. ![]() |
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Chart 13: UK employment Employment rose by 81,000 on the figure published last month, to 32,357,000. The chart shows both the official figures and the experimental weekly figures. The trend is likely to be upwards. ![]() |
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Chart 14: Employment rate in the UK The employment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points over the quarter, to 75.2%. The chart shows both the official figures and the experimental weekly figures. The trend is likely to be upwards. The experimental weekly estimates show an employment rate of 75.5% at the end of July. ![]() |
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Chart 15: Economic inactivity – the long-term sick or disabled The numbers of people who are economically inactive, - not working and not currently looking for work - who are long-term sick or disabled has been trending downwards, but this month shows a rise. There are 2.16 million working age people in this group. ![]() |
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Chart 16: Economic inactivity – people looking after family The survey figures (showing those looking after family and not doing paid work or looking for paid work) have been trending downwards, but has been flatter in recent months. ![]() |
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Chart 17: Economic inactivity – other inactive In the Coronavirus period, people who were not working or looking for work due to Covid were included in this group. The number in this category increased sharply at the time, and has continued at a high level. A very high proportion of this group want to work, and this increased over the period of the pandemic.The increase over the pre-pandemic level is now 99,000. ![]() |
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Chart 18: Employment rate two-year change in regions – May to July 2021 Compared with 2019, two regions showed a rise in the employment rate, the North East and London. The employment rate fell in 10 regions, led by the South East and the East Midlands. ![]() |
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Chart 19: Unemployment rate two-year change in regions – May to July 2021 Compared with 2019, eleven regions showed a rise in the unemployment rate, led by London and the South East. The unemployment rate fell in one region, the East Midlands. ![]() |
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Chart 20: Inactivity rate two-year change in regions – May to July 2021 Compared with 2019, seven regions showed a rise in the inactivity rate, led by the South West and the East Midlands. The inactivity rate fell in 5 regions, led by London and the North East. ![]() |
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