UK unemployment rate estimated 4.4% in Nov 2024-Jan 2025: ONS

Between November 2024 and January 2025, that number fell by 9,000 quarter on quarter (QoQ), but rose by 72,000 (or 0.2 per cent) year on year (YoY), the latest ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS) data revealed.

That number increased by 21,000 (or 0.1 per cent) month on month (MoM) and increased by 66,000 (0.2 per cent) YoY to 30.4 million in February this year, according to provisional ONS estimates.

The UK employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 was estimated at 75 per cent between November 2024 and January 2025. The UK unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over was estimated at 4.4 per cent in that quarter. The UK economic inactivity rate for people aged 16 to 64 was estimated at 21.5 per cent in that quarter.

All the three figures above were below estimates of a year ago, and down in the latest quarter.

The estimated number of workforce jobs in the country was 36.9 million in December last year—an increase of 403,000 (or 1.1 per cent) YoY, with the largest increase in the employee jobs component, which rose by 248,000 (or 0.8 per cent).

Employment in the public sector was estimated at 6.14 million in December 2024—a rise of 53,000 (or 0.9 per cent) YoY.

There were an estimated 50,000 working days lost because of labour disputes across the United Kingdom in January 2025.

Between November 2024 and January 2025, the highest employment rate in the country was in the South West (79.1 per cent) and the lowest was in Wales (69.9 per cent).

The highest unemployment rate during the quarter was in London (6.3 per cent) and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (1.5 per cent), while the highest economic inactivity rate was in Northern Ireland (26.6 per cent) and the lowest was in the South West (18.0 per cent).

Workforce jobs increased in 10 out of 12 regions of the country between December 2023 and December 2024, with London seeing the largest increase of 170,000. London had the highest proportion of service-based jobs (92.7 per cent), while the East Midlands had the highest proportion of production-sector jobs (12.3 per cent).

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)