19th March 2026
Early estimates for February 2026 indicate that the number of payrolled employees was 30.3 million, a fall of 0.2% from February 2025; this is equivalent to 49,000 fewer employees.
The largest increase was in the health and social work sector, with a rise of 42,000 employees; the largest decrease was in the wholesale and retail sector, with a fall of 49,000 employees.
Payrolled employment increased by 20,000 employees (0.1%) in February 2026, compared with January 2026; figures for February should be treated as provisional estimates and are likely to be revised when more data are received next month.
UK payrolled employee growth for January 2026, compared with December 2025, has been revised from a decrease of 11,000 reported in the last bulletin to an increase of 6,000; this is because of the incorporation of additional real time information (RTI) submissions into the statistics, which takes place every publication and reduces the need for imputation.
Early estimates for February 2026 indicate that median monthly pay increased by 4.1%, compared with February 2025.
Annual growth in median pay in February 2026 was highest in the public administration and defence sector, with an increase of 8.3%; it was lowest in the finance and insurance sector, with a decrease of 2.9%.
Read the full ONS report HERE