February labour market update

People who previously didn't look for work are increasingly entering the labour market

Briefing published on 26 February 2013 by Paul Swinney and Naomi Clayton

In spite of the UK’s poor economic performance over the last five years there has been a large fall in the number of people choosing not to look for a job – the number of people classed as ‘inactive’ is at its lowest level since 2006. It is for this reason that the decline in unemployment has been relatively more subdued than increases in employment over this time period – many new job opportunities have been taken by those re-entering the labour market rather than those classed as unemployed.

Labour market update, latest data: