More people in work, wages rising faster than inflation

It has been a long hard slog recovering from the damage done to the world economy by the pandemic, but the British economy is starting to turn the corner.

New jobs figures show there are over 4.1 million more people in work since 2010, showing our plan is working as we drive down inflation and grow the economy.

Key statistics: 

  • Employment: There are almost 33.2 million people in work in the UK (up 76,000 over the last year and up by over 4.1 million since 2010).
  • Employment rate: Near record highs at 75 per cent (up by 4.8 points since 2010).
  • Unemployment: There are 1.3 million people in unemployment (down by over 1.1 million since 2010).
  • Unemployment rate: The unemployment rate is 3.9 per cent (down by 4 points since 2010) – near record lows.
  • Wages: Regular pay is continuing to grow and outpace inflation (up 6.1 per cent in November 2023 to January 2024).
  • Youth unemployment: There are 437,000 fewer unemployed young people since 2010. 

Other good news::

There are 30.4 million people in payrolled employment (a record high with over 1.3 million more people in payrolled employment since the beginning of the pandemic).

Vacancies recorded a fall in November 2023 to January 2024 the 20th consecutive fall.

Annual growth in total earnings (excluding bonuses) in Great Britain was 6.1 per cent in November 2023 to January 2024, and annual growth in employees’ average regular earnings (including bonuses) was 5.6 per cent.

The female employment rate is at 72.1 per cent – a 6.5 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 increased the National Living Wage to record levels. From 1 April 2024, we will deliver 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).

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).

We are supporting 371,000 people who have been on the highest tier of incapacity benefits to get back into work.

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