Employment | Good news for UK workers as jobs market booms

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its latest report on the state of the UK labour market and the news for July seems to be largely positive for UK workers.

One of the most significant findings was that the employment rate for the nation has risen from 75.6% to 76.0% year on year. Although this growth could be considered slow, analysts were quick to highlight that given the looming prospect of Brexit, growth of any kind is positive.

Similarly, the rate of unemployment in the country is at its lowest since October to December of 1974, at an average of just 3.8%, whilst the UK’s economic inactivity rate was also estimated at 20.9% – lower than a year earlier at 21.0%.

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The ONS report also found that UK employees are earning more. Estimated annual growth in average weekly earnings for employees increased to 3.4% for total pay, including bonuses, and 3.6% for regular pay – excluding bonuses. In real terms, this means that after adjusting for inflation, total pay is estimated to have increased by 1.4% compared with a year earlier, whilst regular pay has seen a rise of 1.7% in the same period.