About this data

Source: ONS, Labour market status by age group (A05), October 2026

• People are unemployed if they don't have a job, have looked for work in the past four weeks and can start in the next two. The unemployment rate is the share of economically active people (those in work or looking for it) who are unemployed.
• Most 16- and 17-year-olds are in full-time education and not looking for work, so they aren't counted in the rate. The rate for this age group is the share of the relatively few who are in work or looking for it, and is based on a small sample.
• Annual averages of the four calendar quarters. The survey's figures by age start in 1992.
• Fewer people have answered the Labour Force Survey since 2020, so estimates for recent years are less certain, especially for smaller groups (shaded on the chart). In November 2023 the Office for Statistics Regulation removed their accredited official statistics status. ONS has since raised response, but only to around one in four households, and plans to replace the survey with a transformed version as its main measure in 2027.

This chart appears in Employment and wages.