Estimates from the Labour Force Survey show that, between February to April 2018 and May to July 2018, the number of people in work was little changed, the number of unemployed people decreased but the number of people aged from 16 to 64 years not working and not seeking or available to work (economically inactive) increased.

There were 32.40 million people in work, little changed compared with February to April 2018 but 261,000 more than for a year earlier.

The employment rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who were in work) was 75.5%, slightly lower than for February to April 2018 (75.6%) but higher than for a year earlier (75.3%).

There were 1.36 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 55,000 fewer than for February to April 2018 and 95,000 fewer than for a year earlier.

The unemployment rate (the number of unemployed people as a proportion of all employed and unemployed people) was 4.0%; it has not been lower since December 1974 to February 1975.