UK Unemployment Dips to 4.7 Percent as Payrolls Shrink by 111,000

(MENAFN) Britain’s jobs market has moved sideways through 2026. The latest quarter brought a slight rise in employment and a small drop in unemployment, but employers have cut payrolls over the past year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Tuesday.

The number of payrolled employees fell by 111,000 between August 2025 and August 2026, the ONS estimated. Early figures for September pointed to little movement over the month, with payrolled employees at 30.3 million.

Unemployment among people aged 16 and over stood at 4.7% in the June to August period, down 0.1 percentage point from both the previous quarter and a year earlier.

The employment rate climbed to 75.3% over the same period, up 0.2 percentage point on the quarter and the year.

Economic inactivity among people aged 16 to 64 reached 20.9%. That is 0.2 percentage point lower than a year ago and 0.1 percentage point lower than in the previous quarter.

Job vacancies recorded their steepest drop since the start of the year, driven mainly by smaller firms pointing to rising labor costs.

Regular wage growth held relatively steady, but total pay fell to its lowest level in almost six years.

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