Unemployment in the United Kingdom

Unemployment in the United Kingdom is measured by the Office for National Statistics. As of July 2025, the U.K. unemployment rate was 4.7%, up from 3.8% in February 2024.

In 2024, there were 11 million economically inactive people in the UK. In the three-month figures (July to September 2022) the unemployment rate was estimated at 3.6%, which is 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous three-month period. The ONS said the employment rate, or percentage of people in work for those aged between 16 and 64, was estimated to be 75.5%. This was largely unchanged compared with the previous three-month period and 1.1 percentage points lower than before the pandemic (December 2019 to February 2020). The economic inactivity rate (is the proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 years who are not in the labour force) was 21.6%.

The figures are compiled through the Labour Force Survey, which asks a sample of 53,000 households and is conducted every 3 months.

Unemployment levels and rates are published each month by the Office for National Statistics in the Labour Market Statistical Bulletin. Estimates are available by sex, age, duration of unemployment and by area of the UK.

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