Summary of key points


  • The most timely estimate of payrolled employees shows an increase of around 52,800, or 1.3%, in London between January and February 2022 and is 1.4% above pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels.

  • The employment rate in London was estimated at 75.8% for the three months ending January 2022, up 0.3 percentage points (pp) on the previous quarter and up 1.7pp on the same period in the previous year. London’s employment rate remains close to the UK average (75.6%).

  • The unemployment rate continued to fall from its pandemic peak but is still higher than the UK average. London’s unemployment rate was estimated at 5.0%, down 0.4pp on the quarter and down 2.5pp from a year earlier. The UK average was 3.9%.

  • London’s inactivity rate (the measure of those not looking and/or not available to work) was estimated at 20.2%. While this was up 0.4pp on the previous year, the inactivity rate fell 0.1pp on the previous quarter and remains lower than the UK-wide estimate of 21.3%.

  • The total number of workforce jobs increased by 47,200, or 0.8%, between the third and fourth quarter of 2021, and is 103,000, or 1.7%, below pre-pandemic (December 2019) levels. While employee jobs have recovered, self-employed jobs remain 15.5% below pre-pandemic levels.

Back to top


Measuring the labour market


The ONS has published its latest labour market update covering Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for the three months ending January 2022. This bulletin presents the latest headline labour market estimates for London.

Please note:

  • Many of the statistics presented here are estimates based on surveys, and as such have a margin of error – known as sampling variability.

  • They also cover different reference periods or count dates, and have therefore been impacted differently by the spread of COVID-19.

More information and previous GLA Economics analyses can be found on our labour market analysis page.

More information on the data used and a glossary of terms can be found on the ONS website.

Back to top


Payrolled employees


The count of payrolled employees from HMRC’s Pay As You Earn (PAYE) RTI dataset offers a timely measure of labour market trends:

  • Early estimates indicate that there were around 4.21 million payrolled employees living in London in February 2022, an increase of around 52,800, or 1.3%, on the previous month.

  • The latest London estimate represents an increase of 295,000, or 7.5%, on the previous year (February 2021) against a UK average increase of 5.5% (see charts).

  • Relative to pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels, the number of payrolled employees in London was up by 58,900, or 1.4%. This compares to an increase of 2.3% across the UK on average.

Back to top

Change on previous year

Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.

Note: Estimates are based on where employees live.


Change since February 2020, NUTS2 regions

Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.

Note: Estimates are based on where employees live.


Change on previous year, NUTS2 regions

Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.

Note: Estimates are based on where employees live.


Additional payrolled employee statistics


The tabs below are each updated once per quarter, as new data is released by the ONS/HMRC.


Change by local authority


There is considerable variation in the change in payrolled employees by London authority. Comparing February 2022 to pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels:

  • The number of payrolled employees living in Tower Hamlets was up by 6.0%, while the number living in City of London was down by 5.1%.

  • Overall, the number of payrolled employees were still below pre-pandemic levels in 7 out of 33 London authorities (including City of London, see map).

Back to top

Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information. Contains Ordnance Survey data Crown copyright and database rights [2015].

Note: Estimates are based on where employees live.


Change by industry


Some industries have yet to recover from the pandemic. Comparing January 2022 to pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels:

  • Public admin & defence saw the highest percentage growth in payrolled employees at 9.8%, followed by Administration (6.5%) and Health (6.0%).

  • On the other hand, Hospitality saw the lowest percentage growth with a decrease of 10.1%, followed by Other services (down by 5.3%) and Arts & recreation (down by 5.1%).

Back to top

Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.

Note: Estimates are based on where employees live. Excludes sectors with fewer than 25,000 payrolled employees in London.


Change by age group


Recent changes in the number of payrolled employees vary by age group. Comparing December 2021 to pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels:

  • The number of payrolled employees “Aged: 65+” in London was up by 4.8%, while the number of employees “Aged: 25-34” was down by 2.3%.

  • For the UK overall, the number of payrolled employees in those two age groups saw an increase of 4.8% and no change, respectively.

Back to top

Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.

Note: Estimates are based on where employees live.


Payrolled employees by nationality


The ONS has released data on the number of payrolled employees by nationality, categorised either as UK, EU or Rest of the World (ROW) nationals. Note this data only covers employee numbers up until June 2021. At that time, the number of payrolled employees with EU nationality living in London was 713,000, while the number of ROW nationals was 774,000.

From February 2020 to June 2021:

  • The change in total payrolled employees in London was significantly impacted by changes in the number of EU and ROW nationals. The number of payrolled EU nationals decreased by 11.1%, while the number of ROW nationals decreased by 1.8%.

  • In the UK overall, the same groups saw a decrease of 7.6% and an increase of 3.4%, respectively.

Back to top


Change since February 2020

Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information and Migrant Worker Scan (MWS).

Note: Estimates are based on where employees live. The nationality of a worker is registered when applying for a National Insurance number and may therefore not reflect subsequent changes of nationality.


Employment rate


Employment measures the number of people aged 16 and over in paid work and those who had a job that they were temporarily away from. The employment rate is the proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 years who are in employment.

For November to January 2022:

  • The 16-64 employment rate in London was estimated at 75.8%; this represents an increase of 0.3 percentage points (pp) on the previous quarter and an increase of 1.7pp from a year earlier.

  • The overall UK employment rate was estimated at 75.6%, an increase of 0.1pp on the quarter and an increase of 0.9pp on the year.

Back to top

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey.

Note: The margin of error is +/- 1.4% for London and +/- 0.4% for the UK.


Unemployment rate


Unemployment measures people without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks. The unemployment rate is the proportion of the economically active population who are unemployed.

For November to January 2022:

  • The unemployment rate for London was estimated at 5.0%; this represents a decrease of 0.4pp on the previous quarter and a decrease of 2.5pp from a year earlier.

  • The UK unemployment rate was estimated at 3.9%, a decrease of 0.2pp from the previous quarter and a decrease of 1.2pp on the year.

Back to top

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey.

Note: The margin of error is +/- 0.8% for London and +/- 0.2% for the UK.


Economic inactivity rate


The economic inactivity rate is the proportion of 16 to 64 year olds not in work and either not looking for or unable to work. This group includes some students, people who are looking after family/home, and people who are too ill to work (most of whom are long-term sick).

For November to January 2022:

  • The rate of economic inactivity in London was estimated at 20.2%; this represents a decrease of 0.1pp on the previous quarter and an increase of 0.4pp from a year earlier.

  • The UK rate of economic inactivity was 21.3%. This represents an increase of 0.1pp on the previous quarter but no change on the year.

Back to top

Source: ONS Labour Force Survey.

Note: The margin of error is not published for London, the UK margin is +/- 0.4%.


Claimant count


The claimant count is a measure of the number of people claiming benefits principally for the reason of being unemployed. It includes people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and those claiming Universal Credit who are required to seek work.

The latest data for February 2022 show that:

  • There were 337,000 people claiming unemployment-related benefits in London - equal to a claimant unemployment rate (as a proportion of residents aged 16 to 64) of 5.6%.

  • The number of claimants in London has decreased by 169,000, or 33.4%, on the year, compared to a decrease of 869,000, or 32.4%, in the UK overall.

Back to top

Rate of residents aged 16-64

Source: ONS Claimant Count by sex and age (NSA).

Note: may include some employed claimants on low hours or earnings.


Year-on-year percentage change

Source: ONS Claimant Count by sex and age (NSA).

Note: may include some employed claimants on low hours or earnings.


Workforce Jobs


Number of workforce jobs

The Workforce Jobs series provides quarterly estimates of the number of jobs in the UK and is the ONS’ preferred source of jobs broken down by region of workplace and industry.

The latest data for December 2021 show that:

  • The total number of workforce jobs in London was estimated at 5.97 million, an increase of approximately 0.8% from September 2021 against a UK average of 0.1%.

  • The latest estimate represents a decrease of approximately 103,000, or 1.7%, from December 2019 levels (the pre-pandemic peak in London) compared with a decrease of 1.4% across the UK on average.

  • Total jobs includes both employee and self-employment jobs alongside other types of employment; since December 2019, the latest employee jobs estimate has increased by 24,400 (0.5%) while the self-employment jobs estimate has decreased by 128,000 (15.5%).

Back to top

Source: ONS Workforce Jobs.

Note: The margin of error for all jobs is +/- 0.9% for London and +/- 0.3% for the UK.


Workforce jobs by sector

Between December 2019 and December 2021*:

  • Real estate activities recorded the largest percentage decrease in jobs in London (-24,400 or -15.7%); this was followed by Construction (-41,100 or -12.9%) and Hospitality (-56,300 or -12.3%).

  • The following industry groups shown in the chart saw the largest positive percentage change in jobs in London:

    • Public admin & defence (27,400 or 10.9%)
    • Health (47,200 or 7.8%)
    • Professional services (28,400 or 3.5%)

Back to top

*Note: excluding sectors with less than 25,000 jobs in London.

Source: ONS Workforce Jobs.

Note: The margin of error for all jobs is +/- 0.9% for London and +/- 0.3% for the UK.


Summary of headline indicators


Back to top