Key economic statistics: November 2020

Monthly data which covers topics such as employment, indices, exports and earnings.

Headline labour market indicators, for 3 months to September 2020

The headline labour market indicators estimated from the Labour Force Survey provide an indication of how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting the labour market. Other data sources, such as the number of paid employees presented later in this headline, can also be used to produce a more complete picture.

Employment rate

Wales: The employment rate in Wales was 72.1%. This is 2.5 percentage points down on the quarter and 1.8 percentage points down on the year. This is the largest quarterly decrease of the employment rate in Wales since records began in 1992

UK: The UK employment rate was 75.3%. This is 0.6 percentage points down on the quarter and 0.8 percentage points down on the year.

Unemployment rate

Wales: The unemployment rate in Wales was 4.6%. This is 1.9 percentage points up on the quarter and 0.8 percentage points up on the year. This is the largest quarterly increase of the unemployment rate in Wales since records began in 1992

UK: The UK unemployment rate was 4.8%. This is 0.7 percentage points up on the quarter and 0.9 percentage points up on the year.

Economic inactivity rate

The economnic inactivity rate has steadily decreased in the UK over the last 4 years but has fluctuated in Wales.

Wales: The economic inactivity rate in Wales was 24.4%. This is 1.1 percentage points up on the quarter and 1.4 percentage points up on the year.

UK: The UK economic inactivity rate was 20.9%. This is unchanged on the quarter and 0.1 percentage points up on the year.

Monthly paid employees and earnings from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information

The Office for National Statistics and HM Revenue & Customs publish data for Wales on payrolled employees, mean pay, aggregate pay and single month estimates for median pay.

Paid employees

The number of paid employees has generally increased in recent years, but has fallen during the pandemic.
The number of paid employees decreased during the pandemic to 1.23 million in July, a decrease of 31,000 people (2.5%) compared with February 2020. The number of paid employees has increased slightly since August 2020, but remains well below the February figure.
Early estimates for October 2020 indicate that the number of paid employees in Wales was 1.23 million. This was a decrease of 28,300 (2.2%) on February 2020, but a slight increase of 2,700 (0.2%) compared with the lowest point in July.

Median pay

Median pay has grown in recent years but fell slightly during March and April 2020.
In Wales, median pay has been above pre-pandemic levels since July 2020.
Early estimates for October 2020 indicate that median pay in Wales was £1,816. This is broadly similar to the previous month and an increase of £79 on February 2020.
Compared with the same month the previous year, Wales saw an increase in monthly pay of 6.1% - the fastest growth across the 12 UK countries and regions.

Reports