Jobs and work

How many retail jobs have been lost this year?

Over the long term the number of UK retail jobs appear stable, but jobs in other sectors are growing.

Are pay packets growing?

Wages are lower than they were ten years ago, but on some measures have risen since last year.

What’s happened to employment since the vote to leave the EU?

Employment is up, unemployment is down and there are more people from outside the UK in work than before the Brexit vote.

Is youth unemployment down 40%?

The number of unemployed 16-24 year olds has fallen by 43% between 2010 and 2018.

Student ‘debts’ aren’t really debts

Politicians were accused of misrepresenting students’ finance options - so how does it work?

Who gets more, pensioners or refugees?

What’s the difference between what pensioners, ‘illegal immigrants’ and refugees can claim?

Are taxpayers paying less income tax than in 2010?

The typical taxpayer will pay £850 less in income tax in 2018/19 compared to 2010/11, once inflation is included.

Gender pay gap: what do the new figures tell us?

New figures reveal the gender pay gap among 10,000 UK employers.

11% of UK engineers are women

There are an estimated 48,000 women working in engineering professions compared to 400,000 men.

32,000 people work in the British steel industry

32,000 people worked in steel in 2016. More than half of these jobs are in Wales, and Yorkshire and Humber.

People who look after people tend to be women on low pay

More women work in occupations that tend to offer lower salaries such as administration and caring.

The gender pay gap has been falling over time

The gender pay gap, measured by comparing median hourly earnings, is close to a record low level in the UK.

More people are in work since the Brexit vote

Employment has increased since the Brexit vote, and the unemployment rate is 4.3%.

What is unemployment?

How many people are unemployed in the UK?

Productivity: are we keeping up with Germany?

On average German workers took four hours to produce what UK workers produced in five hours in 2016.

Is unemployment the lowest it has been since 1975?

Yes, as a percentage of all adults either working or looking for a job across the UK.

Is wage growth at the same level as during the Napoleonic wars?

Wage growth is at its lowest level in peacetime since the the Napoleonic Wars.

Does the UK have lower unemployment than the Eurozone?

The UK unemployment rate was 4.3% earlier this year, compared to 9% average across the Eurozone.

Shared parental leave: self-employed people

The rules around the pay and leave parents can qualify for when having a child are complicated.

Are people in work using food banks?

15% of households that use Trussell Trust foodbanks include at least one person with some work or employment income.

What proportion of benefit claimants has Universal Credit been applied to?

Between 8% of expected claimants by 2022 are claiming Universal Credit.

How have wages changed over the past decade?

Average wages have fallen and are starting to recover. Even as the average wage fell, many people's wages were going up.

UK economy; what was the OECD's verdict?

The UK economy grew at 0.3% in the last quarter, this is the slowest growth rate in the EU.