June Labour Market Statistics: comment from the Institute for Employment Studies
11 Jun 2024
Commenting on today's figures, Tony Wilson, Director at the Institute for Employment Studies said:
“The last Parliament has been truly dismal for employment, and today’s figures are the worst that we have seen since the pandemic. For the first time since Thatcher’s first term, the number of people in work has fallen, down by around 40,000 since Boris Johnson’s victory. By comparison, employment grew by nearly four million between 2010 and 2019, and by nearly three million across Labour’s three terms (which included the great financial crisis). This Parliament has also seen the largest rise in economic inactivity and largest contraction in the size of the workforce since comparable records began in 1971. And this just isn’t happening in other countries, with the UK virtually the only developed economy where the employment rate has fallen since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We need to address this urgently, because when employment stops growing the economy stops growing too. Reforming employment support needs to be a top priority for the next Parliament, so that more people can get access to the help that they need to get back into work and get on in work.”
Read our detailed briefing note here.