Mixed picture for labour market

The latest labour market data continues to present a mixed picture.

There is a developing story about labour shortages and rising vacancies.

But while there were more people on payroll in April 2021, that was still three-quarters of a million fewer compared with the pre-pandemic peak.

The renewed lockdown at the beginning of 2021 saw more unemployed people no longer looking for work, contributing to a fall the unemployment rate to 4.8%.

The “economic inactivity rate” for young people (those aged 16 to 24 years) is at a record high.

One reason for that seems to be that more young people are staying in education and not looking for work (almost 80% of young people who are economically inactive are in full-time education).

That may be one factor in the recent rise in job vacancies, particularly in hospitality and entertainment.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation, the body for recruitment businesses, says 181,000 new job adverts were posted in the first week of May, following a record high of 211,000 new job postings in the final week of April.

But at the end of March, a fifth of young people’s employments (21% in the 16-24 age range) were still furloughed (compared with an all-ages figure of 14%).

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/unemployment