Employment in the UK: August 2026

• Labour market overview

• Average weekly earnings in Great Britain

• Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, UK

• Labour market in the regions of the UK

• Vacancies and jobs in the UK

• Estimates from January to March 2025 include the full effect of the improvements in Labour Force Survey (LFS) data collection and sampling methods introduced from January 2024 onwards.

• Some volatility remains in the LFS estimates, particularly those for mid-2023 and throughout 2024, as well as for granular breakdowns, in which sample sizes are smaller.

• We recommend using the LFS estimates as part of our suite of labour market indicators, alongside workforce jobs, Claimant Count, and Pay As You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) estimates.

• The estimated UK employment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points on the year, but increased by 0.1 percentage points, to 75.1%, in the latest quarter (April to June 2026), compared with the previous quarter (January to March 2026).

• The estimated UK unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points on the year, but decreased by 0.1 percentage points in the latest quarter, to 4.9%.

• The estimated UK economic inactivity rate remained largely unchanged on the year and in the latest quarter, at 20.9%.

The latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates are based on interviews that took place from April to June 2026.

We had to make operational changes to the LFS because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which introduced an increased non-response bias to the survey. We reduced this bias by introducing housing tenure-based weights into the survey in October 2020, as detailed in our Coronavirus and its impact on the Labour Force Survey article.

However, further improvement work was required to deal with the increase in non-response from those with a non-UK country of birth or nationality. As a result, we introduced an adjusted Labour Force Survey weighting methodology in May 2021.

LFS periods from January to March 2019 onwards were reweighted from our December 2024 labour market release. The reweighted LFS estimates incorporate information on the size and composition of the UK population, based on 2022 mid-year estimates. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, they are projected forward using scaling factors from 2021-based national population projections, published in January 2024. For Scotland, they are projected forward using scaling factors from 2020-based national population projections, published in January 2023. The constraint to country-of-birth information was also removed.

This reweighting creates a discontinuity between the December 2018 to February 2019 and January to March 2019 periods. Users should take this discontinuity into consideration when looking at long-term movements in the series. However, we have modelled the seasonally adjusted UK levels of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity, by sex and age band, back to the start of the population revisions in July to September 2011. This ensures that the headline series in Table 1, Table 2 (1) and Table 2 (2) (also available in datasets A02SA, A05SA, and A01 Tables 1 and 2) are comparable over the full series. Further information is available in our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators, UK: December 2024 article.

Estimates from January to March 2025 include the full effect of the improvements in Labour Force Survey (LFS) data collection and sampling methods introduced from January 2024 onwards. Since then, further changes that were introduced to help increase response levels may have an ongoing impact on the survey. Some volatility remains, particularly for estimates for mid-2023 and throughout 2024, and for granular breakdowns, where sample sizes are smaller. Caution should be taken when drawing conclusions from short-term changes, and we advise users to focus on long term movements in the data.

We recommend using LFS estimates as part of our suite of labour market indicators, alongside workforce jobs, Claimant Count, and Pay As You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) estimates.

Our LFS quality update article provides users with information about current response rates and known biases in LFS data, to help them better understand the current quality of the data.

As part of our work to address quality concerns with the LFS, we have seen improvements in response levels and rates, with responses now close to their pre-pandemic level. The achieved sample, including imputed cases (the dataset size), has increased from 80,078 individuals in January to March 2026 to 81,193 individuals in April to June 2026. This is shown in our LFS performance and quality monitoring report: April to June 2026 methodology.

On 11 August 2026, following a request from the Office for National Statistics, the Office for Statistics Regulation agreed that labour market statistics based on the LFS and the Annual Population Survey (APS) should be designated as official statistics.

An operational error occurred in May 2026, which led to temporary under-resourcing in LFS telephone collection operations. Our analysis to date, including for the most recent period April to June 2026, indicates that the error had a minimal impact on the headline estimates, although, it does suggest there is a small but noticeable impact on the estimates of average hours and so the total actual hours worked. As the longitudinal dataset does not include imputed cases, the impact of the operational error results in flows estimates for this period being based on a smaller dataset and so they will be subject to lower accuracy and greater volatility.

Following an increase in the employment rate since early 2012, there was a decrease from the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There was an increase from the end of 2020, followed by a decrease between mid-2023 and early 2024. The rate then increased until mid-2024 and has been relatively stable since.

The employment rate decreased on the year, since April to June 2025 but increased in the latest quarter (April to June 2026).

In the latest year since April to June 2025, both the number of full-time and part-time workers increased. In the latest quarter (April to June 2026), the number of full-time workers increased, but part-time workers decreased. The increase in full-time workers over the year was caused by an increase in employees working full-time. The increase in part-time workers in the same period was caused by an increase in those self-employed working part-time.

Following increases in 2024 and early 2025, the number of people with second jobs decreased over the year to 1.293 million (3.8% of people in employment) but increased in the latest quarter (April to June 2026).

We also publish estimates of payrolled employees in our Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, UK bulletin and estimates of the number of jobs in our Vacancies and jobs in the UK bulletin.

Hours worked

The number of total actual weekly hours worked has generally been increasing in the UK since 2020. Total actual weekly hours worked increased both over the year and in the latest quarter. Hours worked for both men and women increased over the year and quarter.

Average actual weekly hours worked increased over the year and the latest quarter.

Following decreases since late 2013, the unemployment rate increased during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. From early 2021, it decreased to below pre-pandemic rates until mid-2022. The rate has been largely increasing since.

The unemployment rate increased over the year, since April to June 2025, but decreased in the latest quarter (April to June 2026).

The number of people that were unemployed for up to 6 months decreased over the year and on the quarter. The number of those unemployed for between 6 and 12 months increased over the year and on the quarter. The number of those employed for over 12 months increased over the year but decreased in the latest quarter. The increase in the number of people unemployed over the year was the result of an increase in the number of unemployed men.

We also publish our Claimant Count dataset, which is a measure of the number of people who are receiving a benefit principally for the reason of being unemployed. Claimant Count statistics are currently designated as official statistics in development. The Claimant Count figure for the latest month is provisional, and is subject to revisions after first publication. This is because of later amendments to records in the administrative systems, for example, as work capability assessments conclude and more information is available about benefit claimants' ability to work.

Revisions in recent months have tended to be made downwards. Further information on Claimant Count revisions is published each month, and is also available in our latest Labour Force Survey quality update article.

The UK Claimant Count had been increasing since January 2026, but has decreased in the last two months, reaching 1.665 million in July 2026. Before this, the Claimant Count had generally been falling since a change was made to the Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) in mid-2024, which added around 120,000 claimants to the count.

Since comparable records began in 1971, the economic inactivity rate had generally been falling. However, it increased during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and has since fluctuated around this increased rate.

The economic inactivity rate remained largely unchanged over the year, since April to June 2025, and in the latest quarter (April to June 2026).

Those aged 18 to 34 years, and 50 to 64 years experienced an annual decrease in inactivity rate since April to June 2025, while those aged 16 to 17 and 35 to 49 years saw an increase. In the latest quarter (April to June 2026), those aged between 16 to 24 years saw a decrease, though those aged 25 to 34 years and 50 to 64 years saw increases. Those aged 35 to 49 years remained largely unchanged on the quarter.

Since April to June 2025, an increase in the number of those who were economically inactive because they were students or retired, has been partially offset by a decrease in the numbers looking after the family or home, resulting in a small residual increase on the year. Likewise, since January to March 2026, an increase in the number of those who were economically inactive because they were retired, has been offset by a decrease in the numbers looking after the family or home, resulting in very little change on the quarter.

The number of people reporting redundancy in the three months before interview remained largely unchanged over the year and decreased in the latest quarter, to 3.6 per 1,000 employees in April to June 2026. 

We also publish our HR1: Potential redundancies dataset, which shows potential redundancies, covering those notified by employers to the Insolvency Service through the form, broken down by region and industry.

Flows estimates show that there were net movements from unemployment into employment and from economic inactivity into employment and unemployment between January to March 2026 and April to June 2026.

There are differences between the data used for headline Labour Force Survey (LFS) aggregate estimates and the longitudinal data used to estimate the flows, which are based on a subset of the main LFS sample. Further information can be found in our X02: Labour Force Survey flows estimates dataset.

View all related data on our related data page.

Actual and usual hours worked

Statistics for usual hours worked measure how many hours people usually work per week. Compared with actual hours worked, they are not affected by absences and so can provide a better measure of normal working patterns. For example, a person who usually works 37 hours a week, but who was on holiday for a week, would be recorded as working zero actual hours for that week, while usual hours would be recorded as 37 hours.

Workers temporarily absent from a job because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic would still be classed as employed; however, they would be employed working no hours. This has directly affected estimates of total actual hours worked during the pandemic. As the average actual weekly hours are the average of all in employment, those temporarily absent from a job also affected these estimates.

Claimant Count

The Claimant Count is an official statistic in development that measures the number of people who are receiving a benefit principally for the reason of being unemployed. Currently, the Claimant Count consists of those receiving Jobseekers' Allowance, and Universal Credit claimants in the "searching for work" conditionality group.

Economic inactivity

People not in the labour force (also known as economically inactive) are not in employment, but do not meet the internationally accepted definition of unemployment because they have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or are unable to start work in the next two weeks. The economic inactivity rate is the proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 years who are not in the labour force.

Employment

The term employment measures the number of people in paid work or who had a job that they were temporarily away from (for example, because they were on holiday or off sick). This differs from the number of jobs because some people have more than one job. The employment rate is the proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 years who are in employment.

Workers furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), or those who were self-employed but temporarily not in work, had a reasonable expectation of returning to their jobs after a temporary period of absence. Therefore, they were classified as employed under the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition. A more detailed explanation is available in our Guide to labour market statistics methodology.

Redundancies

The redundancy estimate measures the number of people who were made redundant or who took voluntary redundancy in the three months before the Labour Force Survey (LFS) interviews; it does not take into consideration planned redundancies.

Unemployment

The unemployment estimates measure the number of people without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks. The unemployment rate is not the proportion of the total population that is unemployed. It is the proportion of the economically active population (that is, those in work plus those seeking and available to work) that is unemployed.

A more detailed glossary is available.

This bulletin relies on data collected from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the largest household survey in the UK.

Official statistics

Since late 2023, we have taken a series of actions to recover the LFS and improve its quality, including returning to face-to-face interviewing, increasing respondent incentives, reinstating the sample boost, recruiting additional interviewers and updating the survey weighting. These measures have improved response levels from their lowest point to levels similar to those seen pre-pandemic

On 11 August 2026, the ONS wrote a letter to the Office for Statistics Regulation about the designation of LFS and APS outputs. Outputs derived from the LFS and APS are currently official statistics in development and will move to official statistics. The ONS will not be seeking reaccreditation. Instead, our priority is for outputs based on the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), as the online-first sustainable replacement for the LFS and APS to achieve the standards required to become accredited official statistics and for OSR to consider their accreditation at the earliest opportunity.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Labour Force Survey quality and methodology information (QMI).

Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Read more about how the labour market data sources are affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in our Coronavirus and the effects on UK labour market statistics article.

For a comparison of our labour market data sources and the main differences, read our Comparison of our labour market data sources methodology.

Country of birth and nationality labour market outputs

The RTI adjustment applied from January to March 2020 to June to August 2022 was removed from the LFS weighting methodology, as part of the reweighting exercise in December 2024 described in our Impact of reweighting on LFS key indicators: December 2024 article.

Because of quality concerns during the pandemic (as explained in more detail in our A12 dataset), we have removed the labour market status by country of birth and nationality from our A01: Summary of labour market statistics dataset, from tables accompanying this bulletin, and from our Labour market overview bulletins. The country of birth and nationality labour market data have also been withdrawn from our time series data.

Our EMP06: Employment by country of birth and nationality dataset and our A12: Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity by nationality and country of birth dataset will continue to be made available with additional guidance for users.

A more in-depth look at how country of birth information has changed on the survey is included in our Labour Force Survey quality update: April 2026 article. We will continue to review and update users accordingly.

Strengths and limitations

Uncertainty in these data

The estimates presented in this bulletin contain uncertainty. For more information on uncertainty, please see our Uncertainty and how we measure it for our surveys methodology.

The figures in this bulletin come from the LFS, which gathers information from a sample of households across the UK, rather than from the whole population. The sample is designed to be as accurate as possible, given practical limitations. Results from sample surveys are always estimates, not precise figures. This can have an impact on how changes in the estimates should be interpreted, especially for short-term comparisons. For more information on sampling, see Section 2 of our Uncertainty and how we measure it for our surveys methodology.

The LFS is a survey of households. It is not practical to survey every household each quarter, so these statistics are estimates based on a large sample. As the sample gets smaller, the variability of the estimates gets larger. Estimates for small groups, which are based on small subsets of the LFS sample, are less reliable and tend to be more volatile than for larger aggregated groups.

In general, changes in the numbers (and especially the rates) reported in this bulletin between quarters are small and are not usually greater than the level that can be explained by sampling variability. Short-term movements in reported rates should be considered alongside longer-term patterns in the series, and corresponding movements in other sources, to give a fuller picture.

Information on the quality of estimates is available in our Labour Force Survey sampling variability dataset.

Comparability

The data in this bulletin follow internationally accepted definitions specified by the International Labour Organization (ILO). This ensures that the estimates for the UK are comparable with those for other countries.

We compare the latest workforce jobs series estimates with the equivalent estimates of jobs from the LFS in our annual Reconciliation report of job estimates article. In June 2026, we updated our X03: Reconciliation of estimates of employment and jobs dataset to reflect the latest estimates.

We compare data sources and discuss some of the main differences between data sources in our Comparison of labour market data sources methodology.