(ONS) UK employment for the September to November quarter 2021 was 75.5%, up by 0.2 percentage points.
The number of employees on payrolls in the last month of the year rose by 184,000 from November to hit 29.5 million. The numbers were 409,0000 higher than the pre-pandemic level in February 2020.
All of the UK regions posted payroll numbers that were above the pre-pandemic level, with Scotland recording the largest gains in December.
Following the job gains in December, the UK’s unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points in the September to November quarter to 4.1%. The redundancy rate hit a record low, while the economic inactivity rate gained 0.2 percentage points to 21.3%.
About a 4.2% increase in average total pay was posted during the September to November quarter, while regular pay saw a 3.8% gain.
In the October to December period, job vacancies hit a record 1.247 million, higher than the pre-pandemic period by 462,000. The rate of increase of vacancies was still slowing down.
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