Britain is Working

New figures show the fundamentals of the British economy are strong, with the latest independent statistics showing the unemployment rate is at its lowest since 1974, mostly because of an increase in full-time, permanent jobs. There are more women in work than ever before and there has been a big improvement in youth employment.

The Conservative government is 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.

With the unemployment rate falling to 3.8 per cent, more people have the economic independence that a job brings and can reach their full potential. Behind every employment number is a person whose self-esteem, mental wellbeing, economic circumstances and life chances are all vastly improved by being in the workplace.

 

Key statistics:

• Wages: Average weekly earnings for employees increased by 3.3 per cent compared with a year earlier.

 

• Employment: 32.70 million (up 354,000 over the last year and up by 3.65 million since 2010).

• Employment rate: 76.1 per cent (up 0.5 points over the past year and up 5.8 points since 2010).

 

• Unemployment: 1.30 million (down 119,000 over the past year and down by 1.21 million since 2010).

• Unemployment rate: 3.8 per cent (down 0.4 points over the past year and down 4.1 points since 2010) – the lowest rate since 1974 and halving since 2010 (8.0 per cent).

  

• Youth unemployment: There are 472,000 fewer young people out of work since 2010 – halving since 2010.

 

• Disabled people: There are almost 1 million (947,000) more disabled people in work since 2014, as we are breaking down the barriers to employment facing disabled people.

 

• Ethic minority employment: 3.9 million (up 1.2 million since 2010).

 

And that's not all:

·        The increase of wages by 3.3 per cent represents real growth in spending power of 1.5 per cent after adjusting for inflation – meaning people have more money in their pockets.

·         The number of women in work is at a record high of 15.42 million. There are over 1.79 million more women in work than in 2010.

We are helping families with the cost of living so they have more money in their pockets:

·         Increasing the Personal Allowance – the amount you earn before you start paying income tax – to £12,500 a year earlier than planned so the typical taxpayer will be £1,205 better off than in 2010. These changes will cut taxes for 32 million people and take 1.74 million people out of income tax altogether compared to 2015-16.

·         Making the biggest ever increase to the National Living Wage – boosting the earnings of the lowest paid. The National Living Wage has increased from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour, representing an increase to a full-time minimum wage worker’s annual earnings of over £690.

 

·         Freezing fuel duty for the ninth successive year. 

Taxes on fuel in Britain are among the highest in the world and represent the majority of the cost of a gallon of petrol or diesel for most motorists. In 2016 Britain was the 16th most expensive country in the world for petrol prices at the pumps out of 175 countries and the 4th highest for diesel, according to FairFuelUK. The price of fuel is already high enough to deter unnecessary use of the car. There is no need to increase the burden of fuel tax on ordinary working families and retired people any higher, which is why Conservatives in government have stepped off the "escalator" and frozen fuel duty.