ONS Labour Market July 2025
Payrolled Employees
- Fell by 25,000 (0.1%) between April and May 2025; down 135,000 (0.5%) year-on-year.
- The early estimate of payrolled employees for June 2025 decreased by 178,000 (0.6%) on the year, and by 41,000 (0.1%) on the month, to 30.3 million.
Employment and Unemployment
- Employment rate (16-64) was 75.2% in Mar-May 2025, marginally above last year’s level.
- Unemployment rate (16+) rose to 4.7%, its highest since mid‑2021; up both quarterly and annually.
Economic Inactivity and Claimants
- Economic inactivity rate (16-64) eased to 21.0% in Mar-May 2025, down from 21.4% the previous quarter.
- Claimant Count increased to 1.743 million in June 2025, rising month-on-month and year-on-year.
Vacancies
- Vacancies dropped by 56,000 to 727,000 in April to June 2025, the 36th consecutive quarterly decline.
- Vacancies now sit at their lowest since April 2021.
Earnings Growth
- Regular pay (excluding bonuses) grew by 5.0% in March-May 2025.
- In real terms (CPIH-adjusted), regular pay rose by 1.1%, and 1.0% when CPI-adjusted.
- Public sector pay growth was 5.5%, slightly ahead of the 4.9% growth in the private sector.
Labour Disputes
- An estimated 37,000 working days were lost due to labour disputes in May 2025 across the UK.
Job market cools further as wage growth slows
Source: ONS
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