The unemployment rate in the United Kingdom fell to 3.5% in the three months to August 2022, a new low since 1974 and lower than the previous period’s 3.6% and market forecasts of 3.6%. The rate of economic inactivity increased by 0.6 percentage point or 252K to 21.7%, the highest since records began in 1971, owing to people being sick or students. Meanwhile, job vacancies fell by 46K to 1,246,000, the largest drop since June to August 2020, despite the fact that the number of vacancies remains historically high. The number of unemployed people per vacancy has reached a new low of 0.9. Also, the number of people unemployed for 6 to 12 months increased, while the number of people unemployed for less than 6 months decreased (up).
