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Greater London Authority

GLA Economics Labour Market Updates (monthly)

Greater London Authority

Analysis of the labour market covering the latest developments.

The latest ONS labour market data point to weakness in London’s labour market. Most indicators have deteriorated compared with a year ago, and London continues to underperform the rest of the UK on several headline measures.

On a quarterly basis, London’s employment rate declined, while unemployment and economic inactivity increased. Taken together, these movements point to a cooling labour market, with fewer people in work on this measure and increases in those actively seeking work and those outside the labour force. Over the same period, unemployment and inactivity have remained stable in the UK.

The more timely PAYE estimates reinforce this picture. Payrolled employment continued to fall across both London and the UK in August, with the annual decline in London around twice that seen across the UK and the pace of decline in the capital increasing in recent months.

Workforce Jobs (which include jobs held by non-residents and the self-employed) provide a slightly more positive signal. Although the number of jobs in London fell slightly on the quarter, it remained higher than a year earlier, with stronger annual growth than across the UK.

Overall, London’s labour market has weakened further, although the latest Workforce Jobs data provide some evidence of resilience in labour demand.

When using outputs from this analysis you should be aware of the following caveats:

  • The analysis is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive. It is a snapshot analysis of key data as it pertains to London.

  • The analysis does not represent the full body of evidence on which Mayoral Policies are, or will be, based.

We advise that our outputs are triangulated with other sources of information and analysis to develop a rounded statistical picture of any specific policy issues.

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