Key findings
- Fifth consecutive month that employee numbers have been above pre-COVID levels
- In October 2021, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count was 47,000 (4.8% of the workforce), which is a decrease of 300 (0.6%) from the previous month’s revised figure. The October claimant count is 26% below the recent peak in May 2020, and 54% higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.
- 200 redundancies occurred in October 2021. At 3,350, the annual total was 24% less than in the previous year (4,400).
- The proportion of people aged 16 to 64 in work (the employment rate) slightly decreased over the quarter to 70.2%.
- The economic inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 who were not working and not seeking or available to work) increased over the quarter very slightly to 26.8%.
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