ONS Labour Market October 2025

Key takeaways

Payrolled employees 

• Fell by 93,000 (0.3%) between August 2024 and August 2025. 
• Rose slightly by 10,000 (0.0%) between July and August 2025.
• Over the quarter (June-August 2025), fell by 31,000 (0.1%); over the year, down by 115,000 (0.4%). 
• Early estimate for September 2025 shows a drop of 10,000 on the month and 100,000 (0.3%) on the year to 30.3 million (provisional and subject to revision).

Employment and unemployment 

• Employment rate (16-64) was 75.1% in June-August 2025, up year-on-year but down on the quarter. 
• Unemployment rate (16+) was 4.8%, up on both the quarter and year.

Economic inactivity and claimants 

• Economic inactivity rate (16-64) was 21.0%, flat on the quarter but lower than a year ago.
• The claimant count rose in September 2025 to 1.692 million on the month, but fell year-on-year.

Vacancies 

• Vacancies fell by 9,000 (1.3%) in July-September 2025 to 717,000. 
• This marks the 39th consecutive quarterly fall in vacancies, with declines in half of the industry sectors (9 of 18). 

Earnings growth 

• Regular pay (excl. bonuses) up 4.7% year-on-year in June-August 2025; total pay (incl. bonuses) up 5.0%. 
• Private sector regular pay up 4.4%; public sector up 6.0% (boosted by timing of 2025 pay deals). 
• Real pay (CPI-adjusted): +0.9% for regular pay, +1.2% for total pay.

Labour Disputes 

• Estimated 15,000 working days lost in August 2025 due to strikes.

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