London Labour Market Update
August 2022
The latest data for London show worsening rates of most headline labour market indicators.
Employment and economic inactivity rates have both worsened, although one bright spot is a small fall in the unemployment rate towards its pre-pandemic level and a small rise in the number of payrolled employees in the capital.
Growth in median nominal wages for employees, however, has stalled in the last month, leaving pay lower in real terms.
Summary of key points
The most timely estimate of payrolled employees shows an increase of around 16,100, or 0.4%, in London between June and July 2022 – 1.6% above pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels.
The employment rate in London was estimated at 74.9% for the three months ending June 2022, down 0.3 percentage points (pp) on the previous quarter and up 0.1pp on the same period in the previous year. London’s employment rate was lower than the UK average (75.5%).
The unemployment rate continued to fall from its pandemic peak but was still higher than the UK average. London’s unemployment rate was estimated at 4.6%, down 0.1pp on the quarter and down 1.8pp from a year earlier. The UK average was 3.8%.
London’s inactivity rate (the measure of those not looking and/or not available to work) was estimated at 21.3%. This was up 1.2pp on the previous year and up 0.3pp on the previous quarter but remained lower than the UK-wide estimate of 21.4%.
Measuring the labour market
The ONS has published its latest labour market update covering Labour Force Survey (LFS) data for the three months ending June 2022 and real-time information (RTI) data up to July 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.
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 4.2 million payrolled employees living in London in July 2022, an increase of around 16,100, or 0.4%, on the previous month.
The latest London estimate represents an increase of 187,000, or 4.6%, on the previous year (July 2021) against a UK average increase of 2.9% (see charts).
Relative to pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels, the number of payrolled employees in London was up by 66,100, or 1.6%. This compares to an increase of 2.2% across the UK on average.
Change on previous year
Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.
Note: Estimates are based on where employees live. March 2020 indicated by dotted line.
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.
Employee pay and inflation
The RTI dataset also provides information on the nominal monthly pay of payrolled employees living in London. This can be adjusted for inflation to estimate real pay over time.
CPIH (consumer price inflation including owner-occupiers’ housing costs) is a national measure and does not account for region-specific price changes.
Median monthly pay
The median pay is an average which measures the middle point in the range of recorded monthly employee salaries.
In July 2022:
Median monthly pay in London was £2,550, an increase of 13.8% since February 2020 and an increase of 5.8% on the year.
In the UK overall, median pay was £2,110, up by 13.4% since February 2020 and up 6.6% on the year.
Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.
Note: Estimates are based on where employees live. March 2020 indicated by dotted line.
Annual real pay growth
Growth in real wages can be estimated by subtracting the rate of inflation, here the CPIH, from the growth in nominal pay.
In June 2022, the latest month for which CPIH inflation data is available:
The year-on-year CPIH rate in the UK was 8.2%.
Nominal employee pay was up by 5.5% on the year in London, resulting in a decrease of 2.4% in real pay on the year.
Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, ONS.
Note: March 2020 indicated by dotted line. Inflation measure does not account for region-specific price changes. Sign of inflation rates has been reversed (higher inflation rates are associated with lower real pay growth).
Additional payrolled employee statistics
The tabs below are each updated once per quarter, as new data is released by the ONS/HMRC.
Change by industry
Some industries have yet to recover from the pandemic. Comparing July 2022 to pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels:
Public admin & defence saw the highest percentage growth in payrolled employees at 13.8%, followed by Health (7.2%) and Administration (6.2%).
On the other hand, Transport & storage saw the lowest percentage growth with a decrease of 5.7%, followed by Hospitality (down by 4.8%) and Other services (down by 3.6%).
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 June 2022 to pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels:
The number of payrolled employees “Aged: 50-64” in London was up by 3.9%, while the number of employees “Aged: 25-34” was down by 1.2%.
For the UK overall, the number of payrolled employees in those two age groups saw an increase of 3.4% and an increase of 0.6%, respectively.
Source: HM Revenue and Customs – Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.
Note: Estimates are based on where employees live.
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 April to June 2022:
The 16-64 employment rate in London was estimated at 74.9%; this represents a decrease of 0.3 percentage points (pp) on the previous quarter and an increase of 0.1pp from a year earlier.
The overall UK employment rate was estimated at 75.5%, a decrease of 0.1pp on the quarter and an increase of 0.5pp on the year.
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey.
Note: The margin of error is +/- 1.4% for London and +/- 0.4% for the UK. March 2020 indicated by dotted line.
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 April to June 2022:
The unemployment rate for London was estimated at 4.6%; this represents a decrease of 0.1pp on the previous quarter and a decrease of 1.8pp from a year earlier.
The UK unemployment rate was estimated at 3.8%, an increase of 0.1pp from the previous quarter and a decrease of 0.9pp on the year.
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey.
Note: The margin of error is +/- 0.8% for London and +/- 0.2% for the UK. March 2020 indicated by dotted line.
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 April to June 2022:
The rate of economic inactivity in London was estimated at 21.3%; this represents an increase of 0.3pp on the previous quarter and an increase of 1.2pp from a year earlier.
The UK rate of economic inactivity was 21.4%; this represents no change on the previous quarter and an increase of 0.2pp on the year.
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey.
Note: The margin of error is not published for London, the UK margin is +/- 0.4%. March 2020 indicated by dotted line.
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 July 2022 show that:
There were 287,000 people claiming unemployment-related benefits in London - equal to a claimant unemployment rate (as a proportion of residents aged 16 to 64) of 4.7%.
The number of claimants in London has decreased by 144,000, or 33.4%, on the year, compared to a decrease of 692,000, or 31.0%, in the UK overall.
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. March 2020 indicated by dotted line.
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.
Summary of headline indicators
Headline estimates for Apr 2022-Jun 2022 | Number* (thousands) | Rate** (%) | ||||||||
Latest Estimate | Change on Quarter | Change on Year | Latest Estimate | Change on Quarter | Change on Year | |||||
Employment | ||||||||||
London | 4,802 | 15 | t | 55 | t | 74.9 | -0.3 | u | 0.1 | t |
UK | 32,792 | 160 | t | 489 | t | 75.5 | -0.1 | u | 0.5 | t |
Unemployment | ||||||||||
London | 230 | -6 | u | -91 | u | 4.6 | -0.1 | u | -1.8 | u |
UK | 1,294 | 35 | t | -306 | u | 3.8 | 0.1 | t | -0.9 | u |
Economic Inactivity | ||||||||||
London | 1,310 | 19 | t | 76 | t | 21.3 | 0.3 | t | 1.2 | t |
UK | 8,891 | 26 | t | 127 | t | 21.4 | 0.0 | v | 0.2 | t |
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey. | ||||||||||