Jobs figures released today show there are nearly 4 million more people in work since 2010, 204,000 more pay rolled employees this year and real wages have risen for the ninth month in a row, as we stick to the plan to drive down inflation and grow the economy.
- We have more than halved inflation from 11.1 to 3.4 per cent and real wages have grown again for the ninth month in a row. Official jobs figures released today show there are now almost 33 million people in employment, an increase of nearly four million since 2010 with pay rolled employment at a record high, increasing by 204,000 pay rolled employees this year.
- We are sticking to our plan to grow the economy and deliver the jobs hardworking families need and it is working. Meanwhile Labour can’t say how they would grow the economy because they don’t have a plan. Instead, Angela Rayner and the unions want 70 new regulations that ban flexible working, disincentivise small businesses from hiring and make strikes easier, taking us back to square one.
Some key stats!
- Employment: There are almost 33 million people in work in the UK (up by nearly 4 million since 2010).
- Employment rate: Near record highs at 74.5 per cent (up by 4.3 points since 2010).
- Unemployment: The number of people in unemployment has fallen by nearly 1.1 million since 2010, down to 1.4 million people
- Unemployment rate: The unemployment rate is 4.3 per cent (down by 3.8 points since 2010) – near record lows.
- Wages: Regular pay is continuing to grow and outpace inflation (up 6.0 per cent in December 2023 to February 2024). This is above the inflation rate of 3.4 per cent.
- Youth unemployment: Youth unemployment is down with 417,000 fewer unemployed young people since 2010.
& That's not all!
- Real wages have increased for the ninth month in a row.
- There are 30.3 million people in pay rolled employment, up by 204,000 more people in the past year and up by nearly 1.25 million more people since the beginning of the pandemic.
- Vacancies recorded a fall in December 2023 to February 2024, the 21st consecutive fall.
- Annual growth in total earnings (excluding bonuses) in Great Britain was 6.0 per cent in December 2023 to February 2024, and annual growth in employees’ average regular earnings (including bonuses) was 5.6 per cent.
- The UK’s economic inactivity rate is lower than the G7 average.
- We have increased the National Living Wage to record levels. This month, we have delivered a 9.8 per cent increase to the National Living Wage, benefiting 2.7 million workers, increasing the pay of a full-time worker on the NLW by over £1,800 (a 35 per cent real terms increase in take home pay for a full-time National Living Wage worker since 2010).
- The female employment rate is at 71.6 per cent – a 6.1 per cent increase from when Labour left office in 2010 and higher than at any point under the last Labour government.
- There were 5.1 million disabled people in employment in 2023 (an increase of 320,000 on the year and 2.2 million since 2013).
- We have more than halved the number of workless households since 2010. There were 236,000 workless households in April to June 2023 (a reduction of 315,000 since 2010).
It was Labour that left people with fewer jobs and fewer opportunities:
- No Labour government has ever left office with unemployment lower than when it started.
- The number of unemployed people increased by one million in Labour’s last term in office.
- Youth unemployment rose by 44 per cent under Labour – meaning young people were not getting the skills they need to get on in life.
- The number of women unemployed rose by 25 per cent under Labour.
- The number of households where no member had ever worked nearly doubled under Labour.
