The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown that the UK employment rate has hit a new high of 76.3%, with the number of people in employment up by 208,000 to 32.9 million. The data suggests that an increased number of women in full time work has pushed up employment levels, with the figures showing that 126,000 more women worked full-time compared with the previous quarter.
David Freeman, head of labour market and households at ONS, said, “The employment rate is at a new record high, with over two-thirds of the growth in people in work in the last year coming from women working full-time,”
A rise in self-employment is another contributing factor, he said, “Self-employment has also been growing strongly, and the number of people working for themselves has now passed five million for the first time ever,”
The figures show that the number of people out of work dropped by 7,000 to 1.31 million and the unemployment rate of 3.8% remained at its lowest level since early 1975.
Excluding bonuses, pay growth slowed slightly to 3.4%, the slowest since the three months to April 2019, however Mr Freeman of the ONS stated, “While pay growth has eased since last summer, with inflation remaining subdued, earnings are continuing to increase in real terms,”
Sources: bbc.co.uk, 21 January 2020, ‘Rise in full-time female workers boosts employment’. Telegraph.co.uk, 21 January 2020, ‘Employment hits new record as jobs market strengthens’.