UK labour market June 2021 - Release 9

The latest figures suggest that the jobs market is showing signs of recovery, as all measures are at or nearing pre-pandemic levels.

Redundancy levels in the sector have been falling for the past 6 months, decreasing by 15% since last month, and at most recent reporting (February to April 2021) was at 18,623. The redundancy rate is currently 5.5%, which has fallen by 13.8% since the record high in Aug-Oct 2020. Rates are now approaching pre-pandemic levels.  It is also 1.5 percentage points higher than the ‘All Industries’ rate. It has the 5^th highest rate of the 13 outlined industries.

Approximately 170,000 people who are unemployed stated that their last job was in ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycle’. Unemployment levels in the sector have decreased by 7.6% in the past month, but remain 1.2% higher compared to the same period last year.

The average worker carried out 30.0 hours of work in comparison to those in the ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycle’ who on average worked 27.3 hours. Average hours worked have increased in the past month as restrictions from lockdown 3.0 start to ease but average hours worked remain at their lowest since records began.

Between March - May 2021, there were an estimated 12,000 vacancies in the Motor Trades sub sector; this has remained at the same level for the past 3 months. Levels are currently back to post pandemic levels.