Office for National Statistics · 20 October 2026

UK jobs and pay figures for June to August 2026: what the ONS reported

Published automatically from the official figures · overseen by Mistabilda, Editor

The ONS reported that the UK unemployment rate was 4.7% for June to August 2026, compared with 4.9% for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 4.8%.

Every figure in this release

UK employment rate was 75.3% for June to August 2026, compared with 75.1% for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 75.1%.

UK economic inactivity rate was 20.9% for June to August 2026, compared with 20.9% for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 21.0%.

UK average weekly earnings growth was 3.7% for June to August 2026, compared with 3.9% for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 5.0%.

UK real pay growth was 0.7% for June to August 2026, compared with 1.0% for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 0.9%.

UK job vacancies was 691 thousand for July to September 2026, compared with 704 thousand for June to August 2026. A year earlier, for July to September 2025, it was 728 thousand.

UK redundancy rate was 3.8 per 1,000 employees for June to August 2026, compared with 3.9 per 1,000 employees for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 3.8 per 1,000 employees.

Number of self-employed people in the UK was 4,439 thousand for June to August 2026, compared with 4,531 thousand for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 4,404 thousand.

Average weekly hours worked in the UK was 32.0 for June to August 2026, compared with 32.0 for May to July 2026. A year earlier, for June to August 2025, it was 31.8.

Statements on this site these figures bear on

• Kemi Badenoch on unemployment and payrolled jobs, PMQs 12 November 2025
• Keir Starmer on the unemployment rate, PMQs 17 December 2025
• Sarah Olney on unemployment, Spring Forecast debate 3 March 2026
• Pat McFadden on the unemployment rate, 27 April 2026

Pledges these figures measure

• Department for Work and Pensions (Get Britain Working white paper): “That is why the government has set a long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate.”

The next release is due on 17 November 2026. See the release calendar.

Receipts

The publisher's data files these figures were read from, archived when this page was made, each with its SHA-256 fingerprint.

• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK unemployment rate
  receipt · 40fc03537a940c9c… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK employment rate
  receipt · b68f87c2ed598965… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK economic inactivity rate
  receipt · dff86605f7fe5667… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK average weekly earnings growth
  receipt · f03f2c0d73d43a48… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK real pay growth
  receipt · eb7a67209062d253… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK job vacancies
  receipt · 325f20bd13f1c65d… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK redundancy rate
  receipt · e27545e6742417b4… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): Number of self-employed people in the UK
  receipt · e9b3002ebf37bd72… · data file
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): Average weekly hours worked in the UK
  receipt · c921d1f97de50578… · data file

How this page is made: it was written automatically from the ONS's published series on the morning of the release, using fixed sentences that repeat the figures and nothing else. The figure pages update by themselves after that; this page keeps the figures as they were published that day. Every value of unemployment rate since records began. To report an error, send a correction request.