The UK labour force is the total number of people in the UK who are employed or unemployed. Comparing the period November 2012 to January 2013 with August to October 2012, there was a fall in the number of people “not in the labour force” which has resulted in more people in employment and a small increase in the number of unemployed people.
There was a 131,000 rise in the number of people in work and overall there were 29.73 million people employed. 71.5% of all people aged 16 to 64 were working.
Unemployment rose by 7,000 and the percentage of the labour force that were out of work, available for work and seeking a job (known as the unemployment rate) stood at 7.8%. A recent peak in this rate occurred in late 2011 when it was at 8.4% following the 2008/09 recession. Comparing this peak to peaks in previous recessions, it is lower than those recorded in the 1980s and early 1990s recessions.
A fall in the number of people “not in the labour force"
Comparing the period from November 2012 to January 2013 with August to October 2012, there was a 118,000 fall in the number of people aged from 16 to 64 classified as “not in the labour force” and, compared with a year earlier, there were 320,000 fewer people not in the labour force. This was partly caused by fewer women retiring between the ages of 60 and 64 due to changes in the state pension age for women.
Claimants down in February
The number of people claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) stayed relatively steady between January and February 2013 with only a small fall of 1,500. The number of people claiming JSA (1.5 million) is almost a million lower than the number of unemployed people; many unemployed people are not eligible for JSA.
Employment for everyone aged 16 and over was 29.73 million in November to January 2012, a rise of 131,000 compared with the previous three months.
Unemployment for everyone aged 16 and over was 2.52 million in November to January 2012, a rise of 7,000 on the previous three months.
In November to January 2012 the unemployment rate was 7.8%. Since 1971 the highest unemployment rate was 11.9% following the 1980s recession and the lowest was 3.4% in the 1970s.
The number of people who are not in the labour force, known as economically inactive fell by 118,000 comparing November to January 2012 with the previous three months.
This has increased the labour force and helps to explain why employment and unemployment have both increased.
Finally it looks at public sector employment and shows changes since the year 2000 with a focus on more recent times.
