London’s employment rate remains at near record high

London’s employment rate (i.e. the proportion of London’s resident working age population in employment) in the three months to December 2016 increased by 0.1 percentage points on the previous quarter to 73.7 per cent. This is one of the highest rates of employment recorded in London since this measure began in 1992. It also represents a 0.8 percentage point increase on the previous year. Although not updated this month, the number of workforce jobs in London (i.e. the number of jobs located in London, whether or not they are taken by residents of London), reached 5.73 million in Q3 2016, down very slightly from the previous quarter (which represents the peak since this measure began in 1996) – up 103,000 (or 1.8 per cent) over the year.

London’s ILO unemployment rate in the three months to December 2016 was 5.5 per cent. This is down 0.2 percentage points on the previous quarter and down 0.8 percentage points on the previous year. The timelier claimant count showed a slight decrease in the numbers claiming unemployment related benefits in December 2016. This follows rises (albeit small) since February 2016. The claimant unemployment rate was down 0.1 percentage points on the previous month to 2.0 per cent (up 0.1 percentage points on the year).

 *All figures are seasonally adjusted. Rates are based on working age (16 – 64 male and female), with the exception of unemployment rate which is age 16 and above.

 ** The labour market release headline measure of the Claimant Count includes some claimants of Universal Credit as well as JSA claimants. These Universal Credit estimates are still being developed by DWP. The ONS have therefore decided that the Claimant Count estimates including Universal Credit will continue to be designated as experimental statistics even though they are now the headline measure

Comparing men and women over the year, the female 16-64 employment rate increased 1.1 percentage points (to 66.8 percent), whereas the male 16-64 rate increased by 0.5 percentage points (to 80.7 per cent). Also over the year, the female 16+ unemployment rate fell by 0.8 percentage points (to 6.1 per cent) and the male 16+ rate fell by 0.7 percentage points (to 5.0 per cent).

Correspondingly, over the year the female 16-64 inactivity rate (that is, people not active in the labour market) fell by 0.5 percentage points (to 28.8 per cent) while the male 16-64 inactivity rate increased by 0.1 percentage points (to 15.0 per cent).