United Kingdom Unemployment Rate

The United Kingdom's unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from December 2023 to February 2024, up from 3.9% in the three months to November and exceeding the market consensus of 4.0%. The number of unemployed individuals increased by 85,000 to a total of 1.44 million, driven by those unemployed for over 6 and up to 12 months and those unemployed for over 12 months. Meanwhile, the number of employed individuals fell by 156,000 to 32.98 million, primarily due to a decrease in part-time employees. Conversely, the number of full-time workers increased during the quarter, as did the number of people in employment with second jobs, accounting for 3.6% of all employed individuals. Finally, the economic inactivity rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 22.2%.