Latest figures show London’s employment rate at a record high and London’s unemployment rate at a record low

London’s employment rate (i.e. the proportion of London’s resident working age population in employment) in the three months to September 2016 increased by 0.1 percentage points on the previous quarter to 73.6 per cent (up 1.1 percentage points on a year earlier). This is the highest rate of employment recorded in London since this measure began in 1992. Whilst 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 5.732 million in Q2 2016 – a new high since the measure began in 1996 and an increase of 137,000 (or 2.4 per cent) over the year.

London’s ILO unemployment rate in the three months to September 2016 was 5.6 per cent. This is down 0.3 percentage points on the previous quarter and down 0.7 percentage points on the previous year. This is the lowest rate of unemployment recorded in London since this measure began in 1992. The timelier claimant count showed a very slight increase in the numbers claiming unemployment related benefits in October 2016. These revised data showed that claimant unemployment has been rising (albeit very slowly) since February 2016. The claimant unemployment rate remained the same as the previous month at 2.0 per cent but 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.

Employment rate and unemployment rate