UK worker numbers rise despite furlough support winding down

UK worker numbers have rebounded further in July as the labour market recovery continued despite the initial winding down of the furlough scheme, according to official figures.

According to The Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of UK workers on payrolls rose by 182,000 between June and July, although at 28.9 million it is still 201,000 lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

The ONS also confirmed that the rate of unemployment had dipped to 4.7 per cent for the three-month period to the end of June.

READ MORE: Beer draught threat as draymen vote to begin strike action over ‘paltry’ pay

Analysts had predicted that the unemployment rate would stay flat at 4.8 per cent for the quarter.

The ONS also reported a further surge in job vacancies as firms seek to fill roles following the reopening of the economy, rising by more than 290,000 against the previous quarter.

It added that, at 953,000, the number of vacancies was the highest estimated figure since records were started in 2001.

“The world of work continues to rebound robustly from the effects of the pandemic,” ONS deputy national statistician for economic statistics Jonathan Athow said.

“The number of people on payroll was up again strongly and has now grown over half a million in the past three months, regaining about four-fifths of the fall seen at the start of the pandemic.

“Meanwhile, early survey figures show that the number of job vacancies passed one million for the first time ever in July.

“There was no sign of redundancies starting to pick up in our survey data ahead of the furlough scheme beginning to wind down, and Insolvency Service figures for July suggest the same.”

The data also showed total wage growth including bonuses lifted higher to 8.8 per cent, or 7.4 per cent without bonuses, for the three months to June.

In response to the figures, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “Today’s figures show that our plan for jobs is working – saving people’s jobs and getting people back into work.

“I know there could still be bumps in the road but the data is promising – there are now more employees on payrolls than at any point since March 2020 and the number of people on furlough is the lowest since the scheme launched.”

with PA Wires

Click here to sign up to Grocery Gazette’s free daily email newsletter

Independent retailersSupermarketsSymbol Groups

RELATED POSTS

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.

Menu

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Sign up to our daily newsletter to get all the latest grocery news and insights direct to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.