Britain’s employment rate remains at record high after Brexit

Britain’s employment rate has remained at a record high, with the number of people in employment increasing after Britain’s vote to leave the EU, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The data showed that there were 31.81 million employed people in Britain in the three months leading to August, up by 160,000 on the previous quarter and by 560,000 on last year.

Increase

The data displayed that the jobless rate remained at 4.9 per cent, whilst the number of unemployed people increased by 10,000 between quarters. However, there are 118,000 fewer unemployed people compared to the same period in 2015.

There was also an increase in non-UK national workers in the UK, with the number rising by 242,000 to 3.45 million between April to June 2015 and April to June 2016, whilst average earnings in the year to August also increased, rising by 2.3 per cent.

According to the ONS, the data also showed that the number of people classed as economically inactive has dropped by 65,000, down to a record low of 8.8 million.

Resilience

Hargreaves Lansdown Senior Economist, Ben Brettell, commented: “The UK’s labour market is showing remarkable resilience despite Brexit-related uncertainty, with employment at an all-time high and the jobless rate at an 11-year low.”

He added that since the vote to leave the EU, economists and commentators have been forecasting a sharp rise in unemployment as the uncertainty affects the hiring decisions of firms.

“The Bank of England expects a rise to 5.5 per cent once the full effect filters through. Yet for now, the UK labour market sails serenely on,” he said.