According to the report from Office for National Statistic, early estimates for October 2020 suggest that there is a slight drop over the month in the number of payroll employees in the UK. Since March 2020, the number of payroll employees has fallen by 782,000; however, the larger falls were seen at the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Data from our Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows the employment rate has been decreasing since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, while the unemployment rate is now rising sharply. Vacancies have continued to recover in the latest period but are still below the levels seen before the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The UK employment rate in the three months to September 2020 was estimated at 75.3%, 0.8 percentage points lower than a year earlier and 0.6 percentage points lower than the previous quarter.

The UK unemployment rate in the three months to September 2020 was estimated at 4.8%, 0.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier and 0.7 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

In the three months to September 2020, redundancies reached a record high of 314,000; an increase of a record 181,000 on the quarter.

In October 2020, 33,000 fewer people were in payrolled employment when compared with September 2020 and 782,000 fewer people were in payrolled employment when compared with March 2020.

The Claimant Count dropped slightly in October 2020, to 2.6 million; this includes both those working with low income or hours and those who are not working.

There were an estimated 525,000 vacancies in the UK in August to October 2020; this is 278,000 fewer than a year ago and 146,000 more than the previous quarter.

Growth in average total pay (including bonuses) among employees for the three months July to September 2020 increased to 1.3%, and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) also increased, to 1.9%.