Labour Market Analysis to October 2025 – unemployment continues up

Unemployment in the UK rose to just under 1.8 million, with the unemployment rate rising from 4.8% to 5.2%. The employment rate fell from 75.2% to 74.9% and economic inactivity fell slightly to 21.0%.

The report raises concerns over the direction of employment, with redundancy numbers rising sharply in the latest few months, and youth unemployment increased from 11.6% to 13.4% in the latest quarter.

Average earnings growth remained at 4.6%.

Read the Learning & Work Institute’s full analysis.