About this data
- 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.
- From 1971, the rate for people aged 16 and over from ONS's Labour Force Survey. Before that, the Bank of England's estimates, made consistent with the survey's definition from trade union records, unemployment insurance and benefit claims. Before 1855, they are rough estimates for Great Britain.
- 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.