The proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who are unemployed.
4.9
%
down 0.3pp from previous month
| Period | Value (%) |
|---|---|
| 1971 | 4.5 |
| 1972 | 4.1 |
| 1973 | 3.4 |
| 1974 | 3.8 |
| 1975 | 5.1 |
| 1976 | 5.5 |
| 1977 | 5.7 |
| 1978 | 5.3 |
| 1979 | 5.6 |
| 1980 | 8.3 |
| 1981 | 10.3 |
| 1982 | 11.2 |
| 1983 | 11.7 |
| 1984 | 11.6 |
| 1985 | 11.3 |
| 1986 | 11.2 |
| 1987 | 9.5 |
| 1988 | 7.9 |
| 1989 | 7 |
| 1990 | 7.6 |
| 1991 | 9.5 |
| 1992 | 10.5 |
| 1993 | 10.3 |
| 1994 | 8.9 |
| 1995 | 8.4 |
| 1996 | 7.7 |
| 1997 | 6.4 |
| 1998 | 6.2 |
| 1999 | 5.9 |
| 2000 | 5.2 |
| 2001 | 5.2 |
| 2002 | 5 |
| 2003 | 4.8 |
| 2004 | 4.7 |
| 2005 | 5.1 |
| 2006 | 5.5 |
| 2007 | 5.2 |
| 2008 | 6.5 |
| 2009 | 7.7 |
| 2010 | 7.9 |
| 2011 | 8.3 |
| 2012 | 7.8 |
| 2013 | 7.1 |
| 2014 | 5.6 |
| 2015 | 5.1 |
| 2016 | 4.7 |
| 2017 | 4.3 |
| 2018 | 3.9 |
| 2019 | 3.9 |
| 2020 | 5.2 |
| 2021 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 3.9 |
| 2023 | 4.1 |
| 2024 | 4.4 |
| 2025 | 5.2 |
| 2026 | 4.9 |
Unemployment figures come from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), a quarterly sample survey of approximately 37,000 households. A person is classed as unemployed if they are: without a job, available to start work within two weeks, and have actively sought work in the past four weeks (ILO definition). Seasonally adjusted.