New figures show that the number of people in work is at a record high and wages are growing at their fastest rate in over a decade. This means that people’s pay can go further, and more people have the security of a regular wage to provide for their families.
We are helping people into work by reforming welfare so work always pays, while backing businesses to create more, better paying jobs across the whole country through our careful economic management and modern Industrial Strategy.
Since 2010, we have helped over 3.5 million more people into employment and there are now a record number of disabled people in work. Nobody’s ability to work should be dictated by their disability and everyone deserves to fulfil their career ambitions, which is why we have relentlessly focussed on breaking down barriers to work.
Behind every employment number is a person and a family whose self-esteem, mental wellbeing, economic circumstances and life chances are all vastly improved by being in the workplace.
The 7 key stats you need to know:
- Wages: Average weekly earnings for employees increased by 3.4 per cent compared with a year earlier.
- Employment: A record high of 32.60 million (up 444,000 over the last year and up by 3.55 million since 2010).
- Employment rate: 75.8 per cent (up 0.7 points over the past year and up 5.6 points since 2010).
- Unemployment: 1.36 million (down 100,000 over the past year and down by 1.15 million since 2010).
- Unemployment rate: A record low of 4.0 per cent (down 0.3 points over the past year and down 3.9 points since 2010) – halving since 2010 (8.0 per cent).
- Youth unemployment: There are over 429,000 fewer young people out of work than in 2010 – almost halving since 2010.
- Disabled people: Almost 1 million disabled people (930,000) have entered work since 2013, as we are breaking down the barriers to employment facing disabled people.
- The unemployment rate for women is now 3.9%, the lowest figure on record. And since 2010, there are over 1.6 million more women in work.
