Labour market in the regions of the UK: August 2025

12th August 2025

Estimates from January to March 2025 include the full effect of the improvements in Labour Force Survey (LFS) data collection and sampling methods introduced from January 2024; however, estimates may be subject to the effect of further ongoing improvements.

An increased amount of volatility will remain in the LFS estimates from mid-2023 and throughout 2024, so we advise additional caution when interpreting change involving those periods.

We recommend using the LFS estimates as part of our suite of labour market indicators, alongside Workforce Jobs, Claimant Count and Pay As You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) estimates.

LFS estimates are weighted to 2022 mid-year population estimates for periods from January to March 2019; headline UK seasonally adjusted series before this have been modelled, but other series have a discontinuity at this point.

The highest employment rate in the UK was in the South West (80.2%) and the lowest was in the North East (68.2%); the highest unemployment rate was in London (6.0%) and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (2.4%), while the highest economic inactivity rate was in the North East (28.2%) and the lowest was in the South West (17.0%), in April to June 2025.

The number of payrolled employees has decreased for all regions and countries of the UK, except for Northern Ireland where it has increased by 0.7%, when comparing July 2025 with the same period the previous year; figures for July 2025 should be treated as provisional estimates and are likely to be revised when more data are received next month.

Read the full report HRE