TOP NEWS: UK unemployment rate eases and job vacancies hit record

(Alliance News) - The UK workforce returned to pre-virus levels in September and vacancies hit a ...

Alliance News 12 October, 2021 | 6:44AM
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(Alliance News) - The UK workforce returned to pre-virus levels in September and vacancies hit a record high, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Tuesday.

The unemployment rate eased in line with market expectations, standing at 4.5% in the three months to August versus 4.6% for July.

Growth in average total pay - which includes bonuses - was 7.2% on a year before and regular pay, which strips out bonuses, was 6.0% for the three months to August.

The number of payrolled employees rose 207,000 to a record 29.2 million in September, returning to pre-pandemic levels. The number of job vacancies in the three months to September hit a record high of 1.1 million, an increase of 318,000 from its pre-pandemic level.

"Reinforcing the growth in vacancies, alongside the difficulty in filling positions, the current ratio of 3.7 vacancies per 100 employee jobs is the highest on record, with accommodation and food service activities the industry with the highest ratio at 5.9," the ONS noted.

Ahead of the wind-up of the government's pandemic job retention scheme, the redundancy rate remained around pre-virus levels.

"The jobs market has continued to recover from the effects of the coronavirus, with the number of employees on payroll in September now well exceeding pre-pandemic levels," said Darren Morgan, director of Economic Statistics at the ONS.

"Vacancies also reached a new one-month record in September, at nearly 1.2 million, with our latest estimates suggesting that all industries have at least as many jobs on offer now as before the onset of Covid-19."

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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