Statistics

Labour market overview: March 2023

National Statistics

Monthly data on employment, unemployment and economic inactivity.

Headline labour market indicators, 3 months to January 2023

This headline provides a summary of the latest key statistics relating to the Welsh labour market, and includes data from the Labour Force Survey and experimental statistics from HMRC’s Pay As You Earn Real Time Information.

Employment rate

The employment rate in the UK is generally higher than in Wales over the last 10 years.

Wales

The employment rate in Wales was 72.3%. This is up slightly on the quarter and down 2.0 percentage points on the year.

UK

The UK employment rate was 75.7%. This is up slightly on the quarter and up 0.3 percentage points on the year.

Unemployment rate

The unemployment rate has decreased overall in both Wales and the UK over the last 10 years. The rate increased following the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but has been decreasing since the start of 2021.

Wales

The unemployment rate in Wales was 3.5%. This is down slightly on the quarter and up 0.5 percentage points on the year.

UK

The UK unemployment rate was 3.7%. This is unchanged on the quarter and down 0.3 percentage points on the year.

Economic inactivity rate

The economic inactivity rate has generally decreased in the UK over the last 10 years but has generally increased since the end of 2020. Whereas, the rate has fluctuated in Wales.

Wales

The economic inactivity rate in Wales was 24.9%. This is down slightly on the quarter and up 1.7 percentage points on the year.

UK

The UK economic inactivity rate was 21.3%. This is down 0.2 percentage points on the quarter and down slightly on the year.

Monthly paid employees and earnings from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information

The Office for National Statistics and HM Revenue & Customs publish data for Wales on payrolled employees, mean pay, aggregate pay and single month estimates for median pay.

Paid employees

The chart shows a generally upward trend of paid employees over the past few years and then a steep decrease from March 2020 until July 2020. Since the end of 2020, the number of paid employees has generally been increasing.

The number of paid employees has generally increased in recent years, but fell during the pandemic. The number of paid employees returned to pre-pandemic levels in July 2021, and has remained above since.

Early estimates for February 2023 indicate that the number of paid employees in Wales has increased by 3,300 (0.3%) over the month to 1.31 million.

At a UK level, early estimates for February 2023 showed a monthly increase of 97,900 (0.3%).

Other detailed breakdowns of paid employees including by local authority, by age and by sector are published by the Office for National Statistics.

Reports

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Contact

Alexandra Fitzpatrick

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg / We welcome correspondence in Welsh.

Media

Telephone: 0300 025 8099

Rydym yn croesawu galwadau yn Gymraeg / We welcome calls in Welsh.

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Labour market overview