In December 2021 there were 29.5 million employees in the UK: up 184,000 on the revised November 2021 level and up 409,000 on the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) February 2020 level. All regions are now above pre-coronavirus levels.

The UK employment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points on the quarter to 75.5%. The number of part-time workers decreased strongly during the pandemic, but has been increasing since April to June 2021, driving the increase in employment during the latest three-month period.

The unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 percentage points on the quarter to 4.1%, while the economic inactivity rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 21.3%. The redundancy rate decreased to a record low following the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The number of job vacancies in October to December 2021 rose to a new record of 1,247,000, an increase of 462,000 from its pre-coronavirus January to March 2020 level.

The full report is available at Office for National Statistics - https://bit.ly/3qXEOyc