UK Unemployment rises to 3.6 per cent as recession looms

The rate of UK unemployment rose to 3.6 per cent in the three months to September, up from 3.5 per cent in the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics said.

It comes as the Bank of England warned the UK was falling into a deep recession amid rising inflation, food costs and energy bills.

Darren Morgan, director of labour and economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said a shift of older people leaving the workforce following the pandemic has intensified, in addition to several days in August and September lost to strikes.

“The proportion of people neither working nor looking for work has risen again,” Mr Morgan said.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, this shift has largely been caused by older workers leaving the labour market altogether, but in the most recent quarter the main contribution has actually come from younger groups.

“August and September saw well over half a million working days lost to strikes, the highest two-month total in more than a decade, with the vast majority coming from the transport and communications sectors.”

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