3. Latest labour market estimates

Employment

The latest UK Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates for Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2019 saw employment decline by 58,000 to 32.75 million, the second rolling quarterly decrease. However, in the year to September 2019, employment increased by 323,000.

The fall in employment in Quarter 3 was driven by the fall in the number of women in employment, down by 93,000 to 15.46 million. Over the same period, the number of employed men increased by 35,000 to 17.3 million.

From 2012 onwards, the number of women joining the workforce increased at a faster rate than that of men. In the year to September 2019, the number of employed women increased by 226,000 while that of men increased by 97,000. The employment rate for women in Quarter 3 2019 was 71.8%. This was 8.5 percentage points lower than that of men (80.3%). The gradual increase in the State Pension age for women (from 2010 onwards) towards equalisation with that for men (in 2018) partly contributed to the increase in the employment rate for women.

Part-time employment

The number of part-time workers fell by 164,000 to 8.54 million in Quarter 3 2019, while the number of full-time workers increased by 106,000 to 24.21 million. The decline in part-time workers was driven by women (down 106,000 in the quarter) and the increase in full-time employment by men (up by 93,000 in the quarter).

Despite the latest results, more women than men have been joining full-time employment and more men have been joining part-time employment. There are many reasons why people may choose to work on a part-time basis. Part-time working offers flexibility to work around other activities like caring services. Some people work part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs, while others work part-time because they do not want full-time jobs.

The number of workers who worked part-time because they did not want full-time jobs increased strongly from Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2013 onwards, as shown in Figure 2. They decreased by 93,000 to 6.12 million in Quarter 3 (July - Sept) 2019. This fall was driven more by women (down by 81,000 in the quarter) than by men (down by 11,000 in the quarter).

Figure 2: The number of people who worked part-time because they didn't want full-time jobs have been increasing strongly from 2013 onwards. Part-time employment because of not wanting full-time jobs, UK, seasonally adjusted, March to May 1992 to July to September 2019 Source: Office for National Statistics – Labour Force Survey Download this chart Figure 2: The number of people who worked part-time because they didn't want full-time jobs have been increasing strongly from 2013 onwards. Image .csv .xls

Another reason for part-time working is illness or disability. This may arise when a worker is on a phased return to work or when a worker is temporarily disabled and wants time to recover before going back to full-time employment. Figure 3 shows the trends for men and women who worked part-time because of illness or disability.

Figure 3: The number of women who work part-time because of illness or disability has been growing fast since the three months to August 2014 People who worked part-time due to illness or disability, UK, seasonally adjusted, March to May 1992 to July to September 2019 Source: Office for National Statistics – Labour Force Survey Download this chart Figure 3: The number of women who work part-time because of illness or disability has been growing fast since the three months to August 2014 Image .csv .xls

The numbers of men and women who worked part-time because of illness or disability followed a similar gradual upward trend between 2004 and 2014. The number of women who worked part-time because of illness or disability increased sharply from 2014 onwards, resulting in a growing divergence between the sexes.

Unemployment

The level of unemployment fell by 23,000 to 1.31 million in Quarter 3 2019, while the unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 3.8%. Compared with Quarter 3 2018, the level of unemployment decreased by 72,000.

The fall in the level of unemployment was driven by both men and women whose unemployment numbers fell by 9,000 (to 731,000) and 14,000 (to 575,000) respectively. The divergence in unemployment rates by sex continued, with the unemployment rates for men and women decreasing by 0.1 percentage point each to 4.1% and 3.6% respectively.

Economic inactivity

The number of people who were economically inactive increased by 53,000 to 8.62 million in Quarter 3 2019. The inactivity rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 20.8% over the same period.

The increase in the level of economic inactivity was mainly a result of women, for whom the number that are economically inactive increased by 75,000 on the quarter to 5.28 million. This was the largest increase since Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2010. The number of economically inactive men reduced by 21,000 on the quarter to 3.33 million.

The people who are economically inactive can be categorised by age. The latest UK data show that people aged 18 to 24 years who were economically inactive increased by 89,000 on the quarter to 1.73 million. This was the only age group to experience record increases in both economic inactivity level and rate in the year to September 2019.

The number of people aged 50 to 64 years who were economically inactive increased, but their inactivity rate fell. The age groups 25 to 34 years and 35 to 49 years experienced decreases in both the level of economic inactivity and the inactivity rates.