Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that unemployment remains at a near-record low of 4.4 per cent, with the employment rate standing at 75.2 per cent.
Despite high employment rates, the Labour Market figures also showed that wages are continuing to stagnate, with average weekly earnings in real terms (adjusted for price inflation) falling by 0.3 per cent – both including and excluding bonuses – compared with a year earlier. However, in nominal terms (not adjusted for price inflation), average weekly earnings increased by 2.5 per cent compared with a year earlier.
Even though there is slow wage progression, the government is making progress in other areas. Nearly 500,000 more people from a black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) background were found to have started working since 2015, while the gender employment rate gap was at a near-record low of 8.9 per cent.
‘Today’s figures show that this government is building a fairer economy that supports people from all backgrounds to get into work,’ said the Minister for Employment Alok Sharma. ‘We are closing the BAME and gender employment gaps, and people across the country are accessing new opportunities.’
The figures also showed that youth unemployment had fallen by more than 40 per cent since 2010, and there are a record breaking number of workers aged 50 plus in work, reaching 10 million.
