Oral Question·Department for Work and Pensions
“What assessment she has made of trends in the level of unemployment.”
Tabled: 26 August 2025Answered: 1 September 2025
Asked by
Alison Griffiths
Conservative — Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
Answering Minister
the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Answer from Hansard
The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)
The unemployment rate is 4.7%—well below the historic high of 11.9% in 1984—but no one should ever be complacent about unemployment, especially considering the significant jump in economic inactivity under the Tories. That is why I am pleased to tell the House that employment is up by 725,000, to 75.3%, since July 2024 and inactivity is down by more than the rise in unemployment—a reduction of 400,000.