The UK unemployment rate is 3.7% as of November, driven by youth

The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom increased by 0.2 percentage points between September and November 2022 to reach 3.7%. The Office for National Statistics, ONS, said the number of people out of work for up to six months rose in the quarter, driven by the 16- to 24-year-old demographic.

The UK employment rate is estimated at 75.6% from September to November 2022, broadly unchanged from the previous three-month period and 1.0 percentage points lower than before the coronavirus pandemic – December 2019 to February 2020.

The number of vacancies for October to December 2022 was 1.161 million, a decrease of 75 thousand compared to the period from July to September 2022. Despite six consecutive quarters of declines, the number of vacancies remains at historically high levels, the ONS says.

The drop in vacancies reflects uncertainty across sectors, as survey respondents cited economic pressures as a factor delaying recruitment, according to the Statistics Office.

Growth in average total compensation (including bonus) and regular compensation (excluding bonus) among employees was the same at 6.4% in the September-November quarter.

In terms of regular wages, this is the strongest growth rate seen outside the coronavirus pandemic period. The average increase in regular compensation for the private sector was 7.2% from September to November 2022, and 3.3% for the public sector. Outside of the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, this is the highest growth rate in the private sector.

On a real basis (adjusted for inflation) for the full year, total and regular compensation decreased 2.6%. That’s slightly smaller than the record fall in real regular wages seen from April to June 2022 (3.0%), but still among the biggest declines in growth since comparable records began in 2001.

According to NOS, 467,000 days of work were lost due to labor disputes in November 2022, the highest number since November 2011.

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