UK Jobless Rate Rises; Redundancies At New Record High

AUG-OCT LFS JOBLESS RATE 4.9% VS 4.6%

AUG-OCT AVG TOTAL EARNINGS +2.7% VS +1.4% PRIOR

AUG-OCT AVG EARNINGS EX-BONUS +2.8% VS +1.9% PRIOR

NOV CLAIMANT COUNT up 64,300 to 2,663,700

The UK's jobless rate ticked up again in Oct to 4.9%, up from 4.6% recorded previously and coming in better than market forecasts. The employment rate edged lower to 75.2%, while the inactive rate was unchanged at 20.8%. More up-to-date PAYE data showed another fall of 28,000 in payrolled employees in Nov compared to Oct, leading to 819,000 fewer people in payrolled employment since Mar 2020. Redundancies increased again in Oct, rising to a new series high of 370,000 in the three months to Oct and showing a record quarterly uptick of 217,000. However, the number of redundancies eased slightly in Oct. Vacancies continued to recover in Nov, showing an increase of 110,000 to 547,000. Nevertheless, vacancies remained below pre-pandemic levels and are 31.5% lower than a year ago. Hours worked revealed a record quarterly increase in Aug-Oct when covid-restrictions were eased with average actual weekly hours worked rising to 29.5 hours. The claimant count rate ticked up to 7.4% in Nov, up from 7.2% recorded in Oct.