Labour Market Report April 23 - Office For National Statistics

The Office For National Statistics reported last month that from December 2022 to February 2023, the UK employment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points from the previous period to 75.8%, with part-time employees and self-employed workers driving the increase. The estimate of payrolled employees for March 2023 also showed an increase, up 31,000 from February 2023 to 30.0 million.

The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points on the quarter to 3.8% in December 2022 to February 2023, largely driven by people unemployed for up to six months. However, the economic inactivity rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points on the quarter to 21.1% during the same period, mainly due to people aged 16 to 24 years, and people inactive because they are students.

In January to March 2023, the estimated number of vacancies fell by 47,000 on the quarter to 1,105,000, reflecting uncertainty across industries as economic pressures continue to hold back on recruitment. Growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 5.9%, and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 6.6% among employees in December 2022 to February 2023.

The report added that average regular pay growth for the private sector was 6.9%, and 5.3% for the public sector, with the difference between the two narrowing in recent months. However, in real terms, growth in total and regular pay fell on the year by 3.0% and 2.3%, respectively.

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Source: ONS