Unemployment in the United Kingdom is measured by the Office for National Statistics. As of July 2025, the U.K. unemployment rate was 4.7%, up from 3.8% in February 2024.
In 2024, there were 11 million economically inactive people in the UK. In the three-month figures (July to September 2022) the unemployment rate was estimated at 3.6%, which is 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous three-month period. The ONS said the employment rate, or percentage of people in work for those aged between 16 and 64, was estimated to be 75.5%. This was largely unchanged compared with the previous three-month period and 1.1 percentage points lower than before the pandemic (December 2019 to February 2020). The economic inactivity rate (is the proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 years who are not in the labour force) was 21.6%.
The figures are compiled through the Labour Force Survey, which asks a sample of 53,000 households and is conducted every 3 months.See Office for National Statistics, 'How exactly is unemployment measured?' (August 2010 )
Unemployment levels and rates are published each month by the Office for National Statistics in the Labour Market Statistical Bulletin. Estimates are available by sex, age, duration of unemployment and by area of the UK.
The definition and measurement of UK unemployment The definition of unemployment used by the Office for National Statistics is based on the internationally agreed and recommended definition from the International Labour Organization (ILO)—an agency of the United Nations. Use of this definition allows international comparisons of unemployment rates.
Unemployed people are defined as those aged 16 or over who are without work, available to start work in the next two weeks and who have either:
a) been actively seeking work in the past four weeks, or b) are waiting to start a new job they have already obtained.See points 47 and 48 in this document (ILO Resolution Document)
Those who are without work who do not meet the criteria of unemployment are classed as "out of the labour force", otherwise known as "economically inactive". For example, a person who wants a job but is not available for work due to sickness or disability would be classed as economically inactive, not unemployed.
A short video explaining the basic labour market concepts of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity is available on the ONS YouTube channel.
The UK unemployment rate In the UK the official unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of the labour force that is classed as unemployed.
The denominator here is also known as the "Labour Force" or the "Economically Active Population".
In the three months to February 2017 there were 33.4 million people in the UK labour force and 1.56 million people classed as unemployed. These figures gave an official UK unemployment rate of 4.7%.
UK unemployment rates consistent with this definition are available from 1971. Considering this consistent time series, the highest unemployment rate recorded since 1971 was 11.9% in 1984 and the lowest was 3.4% in late 1973/early 1974.Unhide the rows on tab 2 of reference table A01 in the April 2014 Labour Market Statistical Bulletin
Data consistent with current international definitions is not available for years before 1971 due to there not being a Labour Force Survey before this time.
There is some data available on UK unemployment rates from before 1971 but it is not consistent with the current international definitions as it is more closely related to the Claimant Count.
UK unemployment surged to a two-year high of 4.4%, with job vacancies dropping by 12,000 to 904,000 in 2024. Despite the weakening job market, wage growth remained strong at 6%, outpacing inflation with a 2.9% real-terms increase. The Bank of England monitored these trends closely as it aimed to reduce inflation to 2%, which dipped to 2.3% in April 2024. Economists noted uncertainties in the ONS unemployment figures due to changes in the labour force survey. HM Revenue & Customs data also indicated a cooling job market, with payroll employment dropping by 3,000 and a rise in economic inactivity to 22.3%. Additionally, 17,000 working days were lost due to strikes in April 2024.
In the first three months of 2026 (January to March), the United Kingdom's unemployment rate reached 5.0%, with approximately 1.81 million people out of work. This was the highest level of unemployment recorded since 2014, marking a continued upward trend from the previous year's rate of 4.5%.
Unemployment data and the claimant count The headline unemployment figure arising from the official definition differs from the "Claimant Count" which is published alongside it.
The Claimant Count aims to measure the number of people claiming a benefit principally because they are unemployed.
However, some people classed as unemployed cannot claim unemployment benefits and some people claiming unemployment benefits are not classed as unemployed.
ExamplesUnemployment and the claimant countons.gov.uk Someone looking for work alongside full-time study ← unemployed but not eligible for unemployment benefits Someone working for low wages ← not classed as unemployed but may be eligible for unemployment benefits
The current unemployment benefits available are Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit; however, because Universal Credit is still relatively new, the Claimant Count data only measures the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance with the aim of including those receiving Universal Credit when possible.See footnote 1 in table CLA01(ONS Claimant Count Summary April 2014)
More information on the differences between the official headline unemployment figure and the Claimant Count is in this document .
Early history of UK unemployment In sixteenth-century England no distinction was made between vagrants and the jobless. Both were categorised as "sturdy beggars", to be punished and moved on.
The closing of the monasteries in the 1530s increased poverty, as the church had helped the poor. In addition, there was a significant rise in enclosure during the Tudor period, limiting the land available for people to work on.
Those unable to find work had a stark choice: starve or break the law. In 1535, a bill was drawn up calling for the creation of a system of public works to deal with the problem of unemployment, to be funded by a tax on income and capital. A law passed a year later, the Vagabonds Act 1535 (27 Hen. 8. c. 25), allowed vagabonds to be whipped and hanged.
In 1547, a bill was passed that subjected vagrants to some of the more extreme provisions of the criminal law, namely two years' servitude and branding with a "V" as the penalty for the first offence and death for the second.R. O. Bucholz, Newton Key, Early modern England, 1485–1714, p176 In the Poor Act 1575 (18 Eliz. 1 c. 3) each town was required to provide work for the unemployed."Poverty in Elizabethan England". BBC - History.
The Poor Relief Act 1601, known commonly as the "Elizabethan Poor Law", was one of the world's first government-sponsored welfare programs. It distinguished between those who were unable to work and those able-bodied people who refused employment. Under the Poor Law systems of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland a workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves, could go to live and work."British social policy, 1601-1948 ", The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. According to Jackson J. Spielvogel, "Poverty was a highly visible problem in the eighteenth century, both in cities and in the countryside... In France and Britain by the end of the century, an estimated 10 per cent of the people depended on charity or begging for their food."JJ Spielvogel, Western Civilization: Since 1500 (Cengage Learning 2008) 566 By 1776 some 1,912 parish and corporation workhouses had been established in England and Wales, housing almost 100,000 paupers.
UK unemployment data from 1881
There is data available on UK unemployment from 1881 but it is not consistent with the current international definition. The data is more closely related to the "Claimant Count" but the coverage of the data between 1881 and 1948 is limited.
Data available from 1881 to 1912 is based on the records of trade unions that paid unemployment benefit to their members. In 1912 there were 1.4 million members of trade unions that paid benefits. This means the unemployment rates for this period are based on a very small section of the UK population at the time (mainly manual workers). The lowest unemployment rate recorded in this period was 1.4% in 1890 and the highest was 10.2% in 1892.
In 1911 a compulsory national scheme of insurance against unemployment was introduced. This meant there was a significant change to the way data on the unemployed was collected. From 1911 onwards it became a count based on the number of insured persons registered as unemployed.
However, only a limited number of people could be insured, the National Insurance Act 1911 only included around 2.25 million manual workers aged 16 years and over who were deemed to be working in an industry where employment was insecure. Therefore, unemployment data for 1912 to 1916 is still based on a relatively small section of the UK population at the time.
The section of the population contributing to the unemployment data expanded in 1916 when the National Insurance Act brought a further 1.25 million workers into the National Insurance scheme. Considering the data based on this expansion, the highest recorded unemployment rate between 1916 and 1920 was 6.6% in December 1919 and the lowest was 2.6% in June 1920 (excluding the war years).
The Unemployment Insurance Act 1920 brought an additional 8 million workers into the scope of the scheme. This increased the total number of workers covered to around 11 or 12 million. Considering the data between 1920 and 1948 the highest recorded unemployment rate was 23.4% in May 1921 and the lowest was 1.6% in September 1947 (excluding the war years). Long periods of relatively high unemployment rates were also recorded in the UK in the Depression of the early 1930s.
The National Assistance Act 1948 extended the scheme to cover all male and female employees aged 15 and over. The data on the unemployed from 1948 to 1982 is referred to as the registrant count as it referred to the number of people registered at government offices as looking for work. The lowest recorded unemployment rate in this period is 1% in the mid-1950s, the highest was in September 1982 when it reached 14%.
From 1982 onwards the count changed from the registrant count to the "claimant count" because from then on it aimed to count the number of people claiming benefits principally because they were unemployed. This count is still published today alongside the headline unemployment figure which is based on the Labour Force Survey.
The introduction of the Labour Force Survey
From 1971 onwards, there are two series of data on unemployment: The claimant count and the headline estimate of unemployment based on data collected in the Labour Force Survey. More information on the difference between the claimant count and the headline measure of unemployment is in this pdf .