Quarterly PAYstats Pay and Labour Market Statistics, October 2020

Latest pay and labour market statistics October 2020:

• The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 0.7% in September 2020, up from 0.5% in August 2020.
• The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate was 0.5% in September 2020, up from 0.2% in August.
• June to August 2020 figures show the unemployment rate and the number of redundancies continue to increase, while the employment rate continues to fall.
• Although decreasing over the year, total hours worked had a record increase on the quarter, with the June to August period covering a time when a number of coronavirus lockdown measures were eased.
• In September 2020, 20,000 more people were in payrolled employment when compared with August 2020 and 673,000 fewer people were in payrolled employment when compared with March 2020.
• The Claimant Count increased in September 2020, reaching 2.7 million; this includes both those working with low income or hours and those who are not working.
• After a record low of 343,000 vacancies in April to June 2020, there has been an estimated record quarterly increase of 144,000 to 488,000 vacancies in July to September 2020; vacancies remain below the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels and are 332,000 (40.5%) less than a year ago.
• Growth in average total pay (including bonuses) among employees for the three months June to August was unchanged from a year ago, while regular pay (excluding bonuses) growth was positive at 0.8%.