Summary
- 76% of adults aged 16-64 have jobs, according to the latest data for August to October 2021.
- The number of people with jobs has gone up recently, but the number of people with jobs still is not as high as it was before the pandemic.
- Employers are advertising more job openings than usual.
How many people have jobs?
Source: ONS LFS
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Among the 41.3 million people of working age (16-64 years old) in the UK, around 15 in every 20 people have a job and 5 in 20 do not.
Source: ONS LFS
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Of the 10.1 million without jobs, most (8.7 million) are studying, recovering from illness, caring for family, or in early retirement. We refer to these people as “economically inactive” in our official statistics.
The other 1.4 million people out of work are actively looking for a job. We refer to these people as “unemployed” in official statistics; we classify only people actively looking for work as unemployed.
When we look at how much people are working, we find that most people in the UK with jobs (24.1 million) work more than 30 hours per week. 8.4 million people work less than 30 hours per week.
Source: ONS LFS
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How many people have jobs compared to before the pandemic?
You may be aware that many people lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic. This was despite the furlough programme, as we count people on furlough as employed.
As Covid restrictions have been eased, many people who lost their job have now found one.
However, there are 500,000 fewer people with jobs than before the pandemic.
Compared to before the pandemic, there are also 380,000 more people who are economically inactive – those out of work but not applying for jobs like students and people caring for family. This includes 210,000 more students than before the pandemic.
The number of unemployed people – those out of work and applying for jobs – also increased through the pandemic and then fell. You may often hear of the “unemployment rate” – to calculate this, we look at the number of unemployed people as a share of people who either have a job or are looking for one.
The unemployment rate is currently 4.3%. Before the pandemic it was 4.0%. This means that there are 57,000 more people looking for a job than before the pandemic.
| Before the pandemic | Early 2021 | Most recent figures | |
|---|---|---|---|
In work (As a percentage of people aged 16-64) |
31.7 million 76.6% |
30.8 million 74.6% |
31.2 million 75.5% |
Economically inactive (As a percentage of people aged 16-64) |
8.4 million 20.2% |
8.8 million 21.3% |
8.7 million 21.2% |
Unemployed (As a percentage of people aged 16-64 who have a job or are looking for one) |
1.3 million 4.0% |
1.7 million 5.3% |
1.4 million 4.3% |
Source: ONS LFS
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How many job openings are there?
1.2 million job openings, also known as vacancies, were advertised in September to November 2021, a rise of more than 400,000 compared to before the pandemic and a record high.
All lines of work have at least as many jobs on offer now as before the pandemic. You may have noticed more signs in shop windows advertising positions or more adverts on online job sites than usual.
Certain lines of work need a lot of new people and are advertising for many more positions than usual. The three areas with the most openings are health and social care, hospitality, and retail and wholesale.
Businesses have told us that they are finding it harder than usual to find staff. They say that they are not getting enough applications from suitable candidates. Now might be a good time to think about getting training in skills that are in demand.
Source: ONS LFS
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