Latest ONS Labour Market Overview Published August 13 2024
Source ONS website
A summary of the main points of the latest ONS Labour Market Report is detailed below:
Trends & Considerations:
The number of vacancies is continuing to fall, although these are still 11% higher than in January to March 2020. The unemployment rate is slightly below that of a year ago.
There was a modest increase in the number of people in employment and payrolled than the last quarter. However, the number of employed people is lower than last year and the growth in those payrolled has slowed.
There has been a slight slowing in the annual growth of regular earnings on the 3 months to June 2025 to 5.4% although this remains relatively strong.
Total earnings growth has dropped sharply over the same period due to last years NHS one-off payments.
Payrolled & Employed:
The number or payrolled employees increased by 14 000 (0.0%) between May & June 2024. This is a rise of 227 000 between June 2023 & June 2024.
The early estimate of payrolled employees for July 2024 increased by 24 000 (0.1%) on the month.
On the year this is an increase of 252 000 (0.8%) to 30.4 million:
Unemployment / Employment:
Employment rate for people ages 16 to 64 years was estimated at 74.5% in April to June 2024, below the estimates of a year ago, but increased in the latest quarter:
Unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over was estimated at 4.2% April to June 2024 and decreased in the latest quarter. See below the rates of employment broken down by region in the table below:
The table below shows the changes on the year from the above figures:
Economic activity rate for people aged 16 to 64 years old was estimated at 22.2% in April to June 2024, above estimates of a year ago, but largely unchanged on the last quarter. The next graph shows the unemployment rate.
If we narrow the chart to look at the last 12 months we can see how the unemployment figures change month to month showing exactly when most industries are engaging additional workers.
The Claimant Count for July 2024 increased on the month and on the year to 1.801 million. Commencing in May 2024 the DWP are rolling out an increase in the administrative earnings threshold for full work search conditionality which will likely affect around 180 00 claimants over a period of 6 months.
Estimated number of vacancies decreased in May to June by 26 000 on the quarter to 884 000.
Vacancies decreased on the quarter for the 25th consecutive period but are still above pre pandemic levels.
Contact
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