Main points The East of England had the largest increase in the unemployment rate compared with the same period last year, increasing by 0.9 percentage points, with the North East seeing the largest decrease of 1.1 percentage points.
Cities With the Highest Unemployment Rate
Again, the metro with the highest unemployment rate in March was El Centro, California, at 15.60%. It was followed by Visalia, California, at 11.3%. Next was the Merced, California, metropolitan area with a 11.2% unemployment rate.
Throughout this period, unemployment has remained consistently higher in London than in the Rest of England, where the rate stood at 3.8% in the 12 months to December 2019 compared to 4.6% for London overall.
The West Midlands and Wales had the highest unemployment rate among regions of the United Kingdom in the three months to April 2023, at 4.8 percent, while for the UK as a whole, the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent.
People from White ethnic background (3.1%) and Other ethnic backgrounds (5.4%) had the lowest unemployment rates, and people from Mixed/multiple ethnic background (11.3%) and a Pakistani ethnic background (8.7%) had the highest rates in October-December 2022.
As the chart below shows, sickness and caring responsibilities are the most common reasons for inactivity given by those who actually would like a paid job. The number of people not working has a broader effect. A smaller workforce means less tax to pay for services like the NHS, and greater spending on benefits.
The UK unemployment rate was estimated at 3.7%, 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous three-month period and 0.2 percentage points below pre-coronavirus levels.
Unemployed Persons in Australia averaged 637.74 Thousand from 1978 until 2023, reaching an all time high of 1015.84 Thousand in July of 2020 and a record low of 364.67 Thousand in June of 1981.
Approximately 10.9 percent of people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in the United Kingdom in April 2023, the highest of any age group.
U.S. unemployment rates for large metropolitan areas April 2023. In the April 2023 ranking of the unemployment rates in the United States' larger metropolitan areas, the Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama metro area had the lowest rate, at 1.6 percent.
Britain's unemployment rate fell to the lowest since 1974 as more people dropped out of the workforce, fanning upward pressure on wages. The government said 3.6% of adults were out of work and looking for jobs in the three months through July, lower than the 3.8% pace in the previous months.
The cities ranked the highest overall for job opportunities are Milton Keynes, Oxford, York, St Albans, and Norwich. Based on Ciphr's study, the top 15 UK cities for job opportunities are: Milton Keynes (#1 for job opportunities) Oxford (#1 for employment rate growth and happiness)
The unemployment rate for Greater London was 4.5 percent in the third quarter of 2022. The borough of Waltham Forest experienced the highest unemployment rate in this time period at 6.3 percent, compared to Bromley which had an unemployment rate of 2.9 percent.
Top 10 Unemployment Statistics for the UK
At 6.9%, Birmingham is the city with the highest unemployment rate. As of October 2022, York had the lowest unemployment rate at 1.8%.
The countries that have the lowest unemployment rates are Qatar, Cambodia, and Niger. Just because a country has a low unemployment rate, does not mean its citizens are necessarily well-off. That is determined by GDP per capita.
Unemployed people in older age groups tend to have higher rates of long‑term unemployment. In May 2016, 41% of unemployed people aged 55 to 64 years were long‑term unemployed compared with 18% of unemployed people aged 15 to 24 years.
About 2.6 million Muslims live in local authorities where more than one in 20 of the population aged 16 to 64 is unemployed, according to analysis of census data, prompting fresh calls from campaigners for the levelling up agenda to also focus on young British Muslims.
The average age of a UK worker is now 41.3, having risen by three years from 38.3 years old in 1992, an increase of 7.7 per cent, according to an Aviva analysis of ONS stats. The research shows over 50s now make up the second largest cohort, after those aged 35-to-49.
The highest unemployment figure in Australia belongs to the indigenous community of Palm Island off the coast of Cairns, with unemployment at 49.8 per cent.
Economists were generally expecting the unemployment rate to remain steady at 3.5 per cent, with the creation of 25,000 jobs. However, the number of officially unemployed people rose in April, by 18,000, and the participation rate decreased slightly, by 0.1 percentage points, to 66.7 per cent.
The 2018–19 Health Survey showed that 55,770 Indigenous Australians of working age were unemployed. When expressed as a proportion of the labour force, the unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians was 3.8 times the rate for non‑Indigenous Australians (19% compared with 5%, respectively) (Table D2. 07.3).
UK unemployment rates consistent with this definition are available from 1971. Considering this consistent time series, the highest unemployment rate recorded since 1971 was 11.9% in 1984 and the lowest was 3.4% in late 1973/early 1974.
In October 2021 to September 2022, an estimated 31,800 people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in Scotland. This is 2,300 less than the number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds in October 2020 to September 2021. The estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 9.0 per cent in October 2021 to September 2022.
The Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is a benefit for unemployed individuals in the U.K. who are actively seeking work. The allowance is intended to help minimize the cost of living for those seeking full-time employment. The benefit may also be available to people who work less than 16 hours per week.