Number of people unemployed in the UK 1971-2024
There were approximately 1.49 million unemployed people in the United Kingdom in the three months to March 2024, with the figure in December 2020 being the highest number since July 2015, when there were almost 1.84 million unemployed. The rise in unemployment in Summer 2020 can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and closure of significant parts of the UK economy.