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Unemployment climbs close to EU levels for first time - TELEGRAPH
Britain’s unemployment rate now rivals the EU’s for the first time since the euro was launched following a surge in joblessness under Labour.
The UK unemployment rate is now within one percentage point of the EU’s, which has seen steady recent improvement.
The gap is at its smallest since the single currency was launched in 2002. In the early years of the euro, unemployment on the continent reached double figures even when the rate in the UK was below 5pc.
A decade ago, EU unemployment was still almost twice the British level – at more than 10pc for much of 2015 compared to Britain’s 5.5pc.
Joblessness in the UK now sits at 5.1pc compared to 6pc across the EU and a near record low of 6.4pc across the smaller eurozone.
The narrowing of the gap suggests Britain’s problems are largely home-grown rather than the result of international factors.
Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy, said successive tax rises and inflation-busting increases to the minimum wage under Labour had fuelled the rise in unemployment.
“We are becoming more sclerotic, more interventionist, slower growing. We are raising the cost of employing low-skilled workers by more than in Europe – that is not helping,” said Mr Beck.
“It is a shame. The jobs market was one of the bright spots of the economy for a long time. Employment grew strongly in the 2010s but now we are losing that.”
Payrolled employment has fallen by 187,000 since Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, announced her National Insurance raid in October 2024, according to tax data.
Unemployment in Britain hit 5.1pc in October 2025, its highest level since the pandemic lockdowns. That is up sharply from 4.3pc a year ago.
Youth unemployment is rising particularly quickly in the UK, reaching its highest level in more than a decade – 16pc – in October, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
