UK payroll employment falls by 145,000 over year to August in provisional estimate

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The early estimate of UK payrolled employees fell by 26,000 between July and August 2026 to 30.2 million, and was down 145,000, or 0.5%, over the year, the Office for National Statistics said. The August estimate is provisional and may be revised.

Separately, the Labour Force Survey put unemployment at 4.9% for May to July and the employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 at 75.1%. These administrative payroll and household-survey measures describe different parts of the labour market.