From June to August 2022, the UK recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the last fifty years - 3,5%, it corresponds to the unemployment rate in 1974 and turned out to be 0,3 lower than the figure for the previous quarter. However, this happened against the backdrop of an increase in the number of economically inactive citizens, writes Worldfootwear.com
According to the UK Office for National Statistics, this decline in unemployment in the country was due to a large number of people who are considered socially inactive, not unemployed. These are people who are not looking for a job or are not ready to start working. The inactivity rate rose 0,6 percentage points in the quarter to 21,7% from the previous quarter, driven by long-term illnesses among seniors and students who choose not to work.
“This creates a headache for the government and the Bank of England. The government has no chance of hitting its 2,5% growth target without bringing more people back to work,” said Thomas Pugh, an economist at accounting firm RSM, in an interview with the Financial Times.
Meanwhile, the employment rate fell 0,3 percentage points to 75,5% from June to August, leaving it a full percentage point lower than before the pandemic. The number of vacancies also declined for the third quarter in a row, although it remains close to the historical maximum: there are more vacancies than the unemployed.
At the same time, official data show that inflation is outpacing wage growth, resulting in a 2022% year-on-year decline in real total wages between June and August 2,4.
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