The UK employment rate was estimated at 75.8% for the period of December 2022 to February 2023, marking an increase of 0.2% compared to September to November 2022.
The growth in employment during the recent three-month period was primarily driven by part-time employees and self-employed workers.
According to the latest payroll data, the number of payrolled employees in March 2023 increased by 31,000 compared to revised February 2023 figures, totaling 30.0 million.
However, the unemployment rate for December 2022 to February 2023 experienced a slight increase of 0.1%, reaching 3.8%. This rise in unemployment was primarily due to people who were unemployed for up to six months.
Meanwhile, the economic inactivity rate decreased by 0.4% during the same period, dropping to 21.1%. This decline in economic inactivity was largely driven by people aged 16 to 24 years.
The decrease in economic inactivity among this age group was primarily attributed to students.
From January to March 2023, the estimated number of job vacancies fell by 47,000 to 1,105,000 compared to the previous quarter.
This marks the ninth consecutive quarterly decline in job vacancies and reflects the ongoing challenges faced by the labour market.
