UK unemployment rate by country 2024

In the first quarter 2024, the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom was highest in England and in Scotland, where it was 4.4 percent, followed by Wales at 3.3 percent, and 2.6 percent in Northern Ireland, the lowest rate among the four countries of the UK. For all four countries, the peak in unemployment during this period was in the early 1990s. England's unemployment rate was highest in Q1 1993 at 10.6 percent, Scotland's in Q4 1992 at 10.8 percent, with unemployment reaching 10.3 percent in Wales during Q4 1992 and Q1 1993. Northern Ireland reported the highest unemployment rate among UK countries in Q2 of 1992 when it reached 12.8 percent.

Unemployment low as UK enters 2024

For the United Kingdom as a whole, the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, one of the lowest rates since 1974. After reaching 8.5 percent in late 2011, unemployment in the UK has fallen quite noticeably in recent years, despite an uptick in the aftermath of COVID-19 when unemployment rose to 5.3 percent in early 2021. From this point onwards, however, the labor market bounced back, and was particular strong in 2022 when there were a record number of job vacancies and unemployment fell to as low as 3.6 percent. While the labor market cooled somewhat in 2023, unemployment remains at historically low levels going into 2024.

UK falls into recession at the end of 2023

Despite unemployment remaining quite low, other economic indicators point to a troubled economic picture for the UK. Throughout the whole of 2023, gross domestic product in the UK grew by only 0.1 percent, and in the last half of the year, there were two quarters of negative growth, meaning the UK started 2024 in a technical recession. Inflation meanwhile, although significantly down from the peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022, was still at the relatively high rate of four percent at the start of 2024. This reduction in inflation also probably came at the expense of economic growth, with interest rates steadily increasing throughout 2023.

Unemployment rate in the United Kingdom from 2nd quarter 1992 to 1st quarter 2024, by country

Characteristic	England	Scotland	Wales	Northern Ireland
Q1 2024	4.4%	4.4%	3.3%	2.1%
Q4 2023	3.8%	4.5%	3.5%	2.6%
Q3 2023	4.1%	4.4%	3.4%	2.2%
Q2 2023	4.2%	4%	5%	2.6%
Q1 2023	4.1%	3.4%	4.5%	2.4%
Q4 2022	4%	3.4%	3.6%	2.5%
Q3 2022	3.8%	3.5%	3.7%	3.3%
Q2 2022	3.9%	3.2%	3.8%	2.7%
Q1 2022	3.8%	3.2%	3%	2.6%
Q4 2021	4.1%	4.1%	3.1%	3.2%
Q3 2021	4.3%	4.1%	3.8%	4.3%
Q2 2021	4.8%	4.3%	4.1%	4.3%
Q1 2021	5%	4.5%	4.5%	4.2%
Q4 2020	5.4%	4.6%	4.5%	3.8%
Q3 2020	5%	4.6%	4.6%	3.4%
Q2 2020	4.2%	4.5%	2.7%	2.8%
Q1 2020	4.1%	4.2%	3.2%	2.5%
Q4 2019	3.9%	3.5%	2.9%	2.4%
Q3 2019	3.9%	4%	3.8%	2.5%
Q2 2019	3.9%	3.6%	3.9%	3.1%
Q1 2019	3.9%	3.2%	4.5%	2.9%
Q4 2018	4.1%	3.5%	4.1%	3.8%
Q3 2018	4.1%	3.8%	4.1%	3.8%
Q2 2018	4%	4.1%	4%	3.7%
Q1 2018	4.2%	4.3%	4.3%	3%
Q4 2017	4.3%	4.4%	5.1%	4.1%
Q3 2017	4.3%	4.2%	4.5%	4%
Q2 2017	4.5%	3.9%	4.1%	5.1%
Q1 2017	4.6%	4.2%	4.6%	5.3%
Q4 2016	4.7%	4.7%	4.5%	5.4%
Q3 2016	4.8%	4.9%	4.8%	5.6%
Q2 2016	4.9%	5.2%	4%	5.8%
Q1 2016	5%	5.9%	4.6%	6.1%
Q4 2015	5%	5.6%	5.3%	5.9%
Q3 2015	5.2%	6.2%	6.4%	6%
Q2 2015	5.6%	5.7%	5.6%	6.3%
Q1 2015	5.4%	5.8%	6.5%	6.2%
Q4 2014	5.7%	5.3%	6.7%	5.8%
Q3 2014	5.9%	6.1%	7%	6.2%
Q2 2014	6.3%	6.4%	6.3%	6.5%
Q1 2014	6.8%	6.3%	6.6%	7.1%
Q4 2013	7.2%	7.2%	7%	7.3%
Q3 2013	7.6%	7.4%	8.1%	7.4%
Q2 2013	7.8%	7.3%	7.8%	7.3%
Q1 2013	7.9%	7.2%	8%	8%
Q4 2012	7.8%	7.6%	8.6%	7.6%
Q3 2012	7.8%	8.2%	8.6%	7.7%
Q2 2012	8%	8%	8.2%	7.7%
Q1 2012	8.2%	8.2%	8.9%	6.7%
Q4 2011	8.4%	8.6%	8.9%	7%
Q3 2011	8.3%	8.1%	9.7%	7.3%
Q2 2011	7.9%	7.9%	8.4%	7.3%
Q1 2011	7.8%	7.9%	7.9%	7.3%
Q4 2010	7.8%	7.9%	8.3%	7.9%
Q3 2010	7.7%	8.4%	8%	6.9%
Q2 2010	7.8%	8.4%	8.9%	6.6%
Q1 2010	7.9%	8.3%	9.4%	6.9%
Q4 2009	7.8%	7.6%	8.5%	5.9%
Q3 2009	7.9%	7.2%	8.7%	7%
Q2 2009	7.9%	7.1%	7.7%	6.5%
Q1 2009	7.2%	6%	7.6%	6.2%
Q4 2008	6.5%	5.2%	7%	5.2%
Q3 2008	6%	4.7%	6.5%	4.1%
Q2 2008	5.5%	4.2%	5.2%	3.9%
Q1 2008	5.3%	4.7%	5.2%	4.5%
Q4 2007	5.2%	4.8%	5%	4.2%
Q3 2007	5.4%	4.9%	5.1%	3.9%
Q2 2007	5.5%	4.6%	5.7%	3.6%
Q1 2007	5.6%	5%	5.5%	4.1%
Q4 2006	5.6%	5.1%	5.3%	4.3%
Q3 2006	5.6%	5%	5.3%	4.8%
Q2 2006	5.5%	5.6%	5.8%	4.2%
Q1 2006	5.3%	5.4%	4.7%	4.2%
Q4 2005	5.2%	5.1%	4.9%	4.6%
Q3 2005	4.7%	5.4%	4.6%	4.3%
Q2 2005	4.7%	5.5%	4.5%	4.9%
Q1 2005	4.6%	5.5%	4.5%	4.7%
Q4 2004	4.7%	5.6%	4.2%	4.7%
Q3 2004	4.6%	5.2%	4.9%	5.1%
Q2 2004	4.7%	6%	4.2%	5%
Q1 2004	4.7%	5.8%	4.6%	5.2%
Q4 2003	4.8%	5.8%	4.8%	6.3%
Q3 2003	5%	5.9%	4.7%	5.6%
Q2 2003	4.9%	5.3%	4.5%	5.1%
Q1 2003	5.1%	5.9%	4.9%	5.3%
Q4 2002	5%	6.1%	5.1%	5.6%
Q3 2002	5.2%	6.4%	5.2%	6.2%
Q2 2002	5%	6.3%	5.6%	5.5%
Q1 2002	5%	6.6%	5.7%	6.2%
Q4 2001	5%	6.7%	5.8%	5.8%
Q3 2001	4.9%	6.7%	5.5%	6%
Q2 2001	4.8%	6.2%	6.1%	6%
Q1 2001	4.9%	6%	6.1%	6.3%
Q4 2000	5.1%	6.3%	5.8%	6%
Q3 2000	5.1%	6.6%	6.7%	5.5%
Q2 2000	5.3%	7%	6.1%	6.7%
Q1 2000	5.5%	7.5%	6.7%	6.6%
Q4 1999	5.6%	7.1%	7.3%	6.6%
Q3 1999	5.7%	6.9%	7.2%	7.1%
Q2 1999	5.8%	7.1%	7.5%	7.6%
Q1 1999	6%	7.4%	7.2%	7.2%
Q4 1998	5.9%	7.7%	7.1%	6.8%
Q3 1998	6%	7.6%	7.5%	7.9%
Q2 1998	6.1%	7.4%	7%	7%
Q1 1998	6.1%	7.6%	7.2%	8.5%
Q4 1997	6.4%	7.3%	6.9%	8.8%
Q3 1997	6.6%	8.1%	7.4%	8.6%
Q2 1997	6.9%	8.6%	8.3%	8.1%
Q1 1997	7.1%	8.5%	7.9%	8.7%
Q4 1996	7.7%	8.8%	8.4%	9.3%
Q3 1996	7.9%	8.5%	8.5%	9.9%
Q2 1996	8.2%	8.5%	8.3%	10.6%
Q1 1996	8.1%	8.9%	8.5%	9.1%
Q4 1995	8.2%	9.1%	7.9%	10%
Q3 1995	8.6%	9.1%	8.4%	10.2%
Q2 1995	8.6%	8.7%	8.8%	10.9%
Q1 1995	8.8%	8.5%	9.3%	11.2%
Q4 1994	8.9%	8.8%	9.7%	11.3%
Q3 1994	9.3%	9.3%	9.7%	11.5%
Q2 1994	9.6%	10%	9.7%	11.9%
Q1 1994	9.9%	10.1%	9.6%	12.1%
Q4 1993	10.2%	10%	10%	12.2%
Q3 1993	10.2%	9.9%	9.8%	12.3%
Q2 1993	10.3%	10.2%	10.2%	12.8%
Q1 1993	10.6%	10.4%	10.3%	12.6%
Q4 1992	10.3%	10.8%	10.3%	12.3%
Q3 1992	9.8%	10.2%	9.9%	12.3%
Q2 1992	9.8%	9.5%	9.1%	12.4%