The UK jobless rate remained unchanged in the latest three months amid mounting signs that Britain’s jobs market has cooled.
Estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the unemployment rate for those aged 16 and over was 4.2% in the three months to August, the same as in the previous three months.
It comes after official figures last week revealed that real earnings are outstripping inflation for the first time in nearly two years.
Today we have produced a new labour market metric, produced by adjusting our headline survey estimates using robust administrative data sources that we receive from other government departments. This maintains the accuracy of our key statistics.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) October 24, 2023
But there was also a mixed picture for the wider jobs market after last week’s figures showed pay growth starting to ease back for the first time since January, job vacancies falling for the 15th time in a row and an 11,000 drop in UK workers on payrolls during September.
The latest “experimental” figures had been delayed by a week due to a low response to its labour force survey, and the ONS said it has used extra data sources to estimate the figures.
Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics, said: “Today we have produced a new metric, produced by adjusting our headline survey estimates using robust administrative data sources that we receive from other Government departments. This maintains the accuracy of our key statistics.
“This is part of our transformation of the way we measure the labour market where we are introducing an improved Labour Force Survey, asking more people in different ways about their employment status.”
