The areas with the worst unemployment rates in the UK, mapped

 Unemployment rose to 4.7 per cent in the three months to May, the highest rate since the Covid pandemic in 2021, figures released on Monday show.

London had the highest percentage of people out of work at 6.2 per cent while Northern Ireland had the lowest 2.1 per cent, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.

The overall UK jobless rate spiked up from 4.6 per cent in the three months to April, with jobs vacancies tumbling by 56,000 to 727,000 from April to June 2025.

Average earnings growth, excluding bonuses, also slowed to five per cent in the period to May to its lowest level for almost three years.

The term unemployment refers to the number of people without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks.

Thursday’s jobs data are more bad news for Chancellor Rachel Reeves who is due to meet her counterparts at the G20 in Durban this week as the Government continues to push for economic growth despite inflation hitting an 18-month high after increasing to 3.6 per cent in June – up 0.2 per cent from May.

The figures also point towards further pressure in the UK labour market, days after the governor of the Bank of England warned the Bank is prepared to make larger interest rate cuts if the job market is slowing.

London had the highest unemployment rate of any region in the UK from March to May this year, with 6.2 per cent of adults not in work, according to the latest ONS figures.

Despite being the highest in the country, the capital’s jobless rate did fall 0.4 per cent compared to the three months to February, 2025.

In the last two years, London’s unemployment rate, especially in inner boroughs, has increased more steeply than the rest of England, analysis from the Trust for London shows.

Compared to pre-Covid pandemic in 2019, more than 200,000 more working-age Londoners rely on unemployment benefits, a recent report shows.

The second highest unemployment rates in the UK were the West Midlands (5.7 per cent) followed by the East Midlands (five per cent).

The jobless rate in the former climbed 1.3 per cent, while the latter’s unemployment was up 0.6 per cent compared to the previous three months.

The North West and Yorkshire and the Humber both have unemployment rates of 4.9 per cent, increases of one per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

In the East of England, the percentage of those out of work grew 0.2 per cent to 4.8 per cent.

The North East and Wales both have unemployment rates of 4.4 per cent after falls of 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.

Across the South East, the unemployment level remained at 3.9 per cent, the most recent data showed, while in Scotland it fell half a percentage point to 3.7 per cent.

The South West’s unemployment rate stood at 3.4 per cent.

Northern Ireland has the lowest unemployment rate in the UK, with 2.1 per cent of over-16s out of work.

The rise in UK unemployment is worse than economists had expected, having predicted the jobless rate would remain at 4.6 per cent.

Pressure in the labour market for the three months to May comes as firms suffered significant increases in national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage in April.

Employers must now pay a rate of 15 per cent up from 13.8 per cent for national insurance contributions, while the amount they begin to pay on earnings has changed from £9,100 a year to £5,000. The national living wage was increased from £11.44 to £12.21.

Firms have also been impacted by intensifying economic uncertainty after US President Donald Trump launched a new tariff regime in April, leading to heightened global trade tensions.