UK unemployment rate unchanged at 5.1%
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Tuesday 20 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - The UK unemployment rate was unchanged in November, official data showed on Tuesday, while wage growth slowed modestly.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the unemployment rate in September through November was 5.1%, unchanged on the previous month. It was, however, notionally ahead of consensus expectations of 5%.
The number of employees on payrolls was estimated to have declined by 43,000 in December.
Average growth in employees' regular average earnings, which excludes bonuses, slowed to 4.5% from 4.6%, in line with expectations and the lowest since April 2022. Earnings including bonuses also slowed, nudging down to 4.7% from 4.8%.
Public sector pay growth was 7.9%. In the private sector, it was 3.6%, the lowest growth rate in five years.
Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: "The number of employees on the payroll has fallen again, with reductions over the last year concentrated in retail and hospitality, and reflecting ongoing weak hiring activity.
"While there was a slight increase in vacancies in the latest period, the overall number has remained broadly flat over the last six months, following a long decline."
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said: "Unsurprisingly, the retail and hospitality sectors have shouldered significant strain following increases to the cost of labour and uncertainty among consumers in the run-up to last year's Budget.
"The 'golden quarter' for those sectors looked a little tarnished, with many shops, bars and restaurants scaling back traditional hiring plans.
"But there are a few positives. After 39 consecutive quarterly declines in vacancy numbers, things seem to have bottomed out and there are tentative signs the economy might be turning a corner."
James Smith, developed markets economist, UK, at ING, said: "The jobs market is still cooling - gradually. Weak hiring surveys suggest that'll continue at least through the first few months of the year. And crucially for the Bank of England, this is finally showing through in wage growth.
"That said, we doubt this latest data will change the minds of many officials at the BoE ahead of the February meeting, not least because Wednesday's inflation data carries the risk of an upside surprise, depending on how air fares are measured are in December."
ING is forecasting the next cut to the cost of borrowing to be at at the Monetary Policy Committee's March meeting.
The MPC last year adopted a cautious approach to reducing interest rates, despite sluggish economic growth, due to persistently sticky inflation, including higher wages.
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