By Employment continues to rise despite end to furlough
Employment rates have seen a slight increase, despite the furlough scheme coming to an end in recent months, latest figures show.
The latest employment figures from The Office for National Statistics have found that there were a record 257,000 more people in work than the October 2021 figures.
There are now just 1.2 million unemployed people per job vacancy in England, an all-time low since records began in 2001.
ONS director of economic statistics, Darren Morgan, said: “With still no sign of the end of the furlough scheme hitting the number of jobs, the total of employees on payroll continued to grow strongly in November, although it could include people recently made redundant but still working out their notice.
“The number on payroll is now above pre-pandemic levels right across the country.
“Separately, survey findings show much of the recent growth in employment has been among part-timers, who were particularly hard hit at the start of the pandemic.
“While job vacancies continue at record levels, the number is not growing as fast as it did earlier this year.”
There was also good news for young people as employment between 16-24 year-olds increased by 0.2 percentage points in the last quarter.
This bucks the recent trend of the employment rate, the unemployment and economic inactivity rates increasing by more than for those aged 25 years and over, as young people have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic.
Weekly working hours also increased by 17,600 in the last quarter to 1.024 billion hours in August to October 2021, however the number still sits below pre-pandemic levels.
Public sector workers also saw an increase as there were 5.7 billion employees in September, up 22,000 on June 2021 and up 137,000 compared to the previous year, a sign of the response shown by the NHS and civil service.
