'Experimental' UK unemployment rate ticks up slightly as hiring slows

Higher interest rates bite

clock • 3 min read

The UK unemployment rate rose slightly between June to August, according to ‘experimental data’ by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as the impact of higher interest rates bite and companies scale back hiring.

Estimates for June to August 2023 show a slight increase in the unemployment rate by 0.2 percentage points to 4.2%, compared with the previous quarter. The ONS recorded a 0.3 percentage point decrease in the UK employment rate to 75.7%, compared with the previous quarter from March to May 2023. It is up on the year but still below pre-pandemic levels. Estimates for this set of data have been labelled ‘experimental' by the ONS, as it uses growth rates from ‘pay as you earn' data and the claimant count to provide a "more holistic view of the state of the labour market". Pay growth ea...

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