Employment Figures

New figures released this week show that the number of people in work in Britain 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.

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.

Businesses create jobs but since 2010, Conservative-led governments have created and environment in which over 3.5 million more people have found 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 the Conervatives 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.

Key statistics:
  • Wages: Average weekly earnings for employees increased by 3.4 per cent compared with a year earlier. Prices rose by 2.1 per cent in the year to December, so wages continue to rise faster than prices and hard-working families are keeping more of what they earn. 
  • 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. 

Other useful statistics:
  • The employment rate among ethnic minority groups is now 66.5 per cent. 
  • Nearly four-fifths of jobs created since 2010 are full-time jobs, with 2.6 per cent of our workforce on zero-hour contracts – a reduction over the last year. 
  • There are over 1.6 million more women in work since 2010.
All this is good news, but there is more to do and the Conservative government will work to do it. 

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