Metric permalink
Unemployment rate (16+)
Part of the Work and Productivity domain. Share of the labour force actively seeking but unable to find work, the standard ILO unemployment measure for the UK.
Latest data
Latest reading
2025
A higher reading is treated as worse for this indicator.
Score composition
Stress score
Blended from three components: (60% weight), trend (30% weight) and volatility (10% weight). Full formula on the methodology page.
Level · 60% weight
Percentile: this metric is scored against its own history, where today sits between its best and worst recorded years.
Trend · 30% weight
Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.
Volatility · 10% weight
100Measured from how much this indicator has swung period on period across its recorded history.
Data confidence and provenance
Confidence and source
How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).
Source
Labour market overview
- Update frequency
- Monthly
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS
- Series ID
- MGSX/LMS
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 August 2026
Known weakness
LFS-based unemployment estimates have elevated sampling uncertainty due to falling survey response rates since 2020.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (MGSX/LMS), accessed 2026-08-13.
Historical values
History
| Period | Value | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 5.4 | |
| 2007 | 5.3 | |
| 2008 | 5.7 | |
| 2009 | 7.6 | |
| 2010 | 7.9 | |
| 2011 | 8.1 | |
| 2012 | 7.9 | |
| 2013 | 7.6 | |
| 2014 | 6.2 | |
| 2015 | 5.4 | |
| 2016 | 4.9 | |
| 2017 | 4.4 | |
| 2018 | 4.1 | |
| 2019 | 3.8 | |
| 2020 | 4.6 | |
| 2021 | 4.6 | |
| 2022 | 3.8 | |
| 2023 | 4.1 | |
| 2024 | 4.3 | |
| 2025 | 4.9 |