According to the report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), from September to November, the unemployment rate (for those aged 16 years and over) was largely unchanged on the quarter at 4.2%, while the number of unemployed individuals rose by 16.0 thousand to 1.46 million. The economic inactivity rate decreased by 0.1%, to 20.8%, while the employment rate rose by 0.1%, to 75.8%
The ONS said that in December, payrolled employees fell by 24,000 compared to November, to 30.2 million. In October to December, the estimated number of vacancies fell by 49,000 q/q, to 934,000. Vacancies fell on the quarter for the 18th consecutive period, the longest consecutive run of quarterly falls ever recorded.
The data also showed that from September to November, the growth in average total pay (including bonuses) and regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 6.5% per annum (+7.2% in October) and 6.6% per annum (+7.2% in October). Economists had expected an increase by 6.8% and 6.6%, respectively. For total pay, this was the weakest growth since the first quarter of last year. Meanwhile, the growth rate of regular pay was the weakest since November-January 2023. However, the Bank of England worries that pay is rising too quickly for inflation to fall to its 2% target, despite a slowdown in the headline rate of price growth in recent months.