Week 42, 2012: UK Employment Rate

Summary: UK unemployment figures released today continue the promising trend of rising employment, for both genders.

What does the chart show? The chart shows the seasonally adjusted quarterly total employment rate, or the percentage of the total population who are aged 16 or over and who are currently employed.  The black line shows this for everyone, while the red and blue lines show this for women and men respectively.

Why is the chart interesting? Despite dismal GDP growth in the UK at the moment, employment rates have been rising now for the past six months.  We are still a long way from the pre-2008 levels, but this steady improvement is nevertheless encouraging.

It is also interesting to see how employment rates have changed over time for both genders.  During the 1970s and 1980s, the male employment rate fell by over 15 percentage points.  For women, the employment rate has been growing steadily since the 1970s.  Male employment appeared to be hit harder by the latest crisis, but also bounced back stronger in 2010.  Over the past six months, the employment rate for both men and women has grown by 0.5%.