The Claimant Count

The Claimant Count is the most reliable data that we use in MtW. While figures are published monthly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), it is still only an estimate, but one which is directly sourced from the DWP / Jobcentre Plus admin system.  It covers the whole of the UK.

The Claimant Count measures the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits, usually Job Seekers Allowance, Universal Credit (UC) and National Insurance Credits. 

The Claimant Count is NOT just about unemployment, but there is a large overlap. It does not meet the internationally agreed definition of unemployment specified by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), but does include people on UC who are in work but with very low earnings. Additionally, the Claimant Count can include some people who are NEET and economically inactive.

JUNE 2025 figures 

Published on 10 June 2025 – valid until 17 July 2025.

Source: Office for National Statistics

Unemployment (all ages)

The figure for claimant count is 1,735,000.

The UK unemployment rate was 4.6% and 1.64 million people aged 16+ were unemployed. The unemployment rate is up 0.2% on the previous quarter and is above estimates of a year ago.


Young people (aged 16-24)

Unemployment rate for 16–24-year-olds is 14.3% for February – April 2025 and 625,000 people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed. 42,000 more than the previous year.

The economic inactivity rate for February – April 2025 is 40.9% for 16–24-year-olds and there were 3.03 million young people aged 16 to 24 who were economically inactive, 50,000 more than the previous year.


Young people (aged 16-29)

Age East East Midlands London North East North West Northern Ireland Scotland South East South West Wales West Midlands Yorkshire and The Humber Totals
Aged 16-17 235 195 185 125 390 50 730 290 245 275 290 335 3,345
Aged 18-24 23,240 21,605 50,220 13,225 39,085 5,555 18,925 31,540 17,520 13,135 38,895 30,330 303,275
Aged 25-29 14,715 13,165 42,870 7,785 25,475 4,255 13,200 20,630 11,225 7,895 24,655 18,150 204,020
Totals 38,190 34,965 93,275 21,135 64,950 9,860 32,855 52,460 28,990 21,305 63,840 48,815 510,640

Currently, the claimant count for those aged 16-29 is 510,640.


Vacancies

  • The headline figures for vacancies (for Mar-May ‘25) shows the UK has 736,000 vacancies – down 63,000 (-7.9%) on the quarter and down 59,000 (-7.4%) on Jan-Mar ’20 (since Covid-19). 
  • The official statistics in development single month estimate of vacancies (for May ‘25) is 720,000down 58,000 (-7.5%) on the quarter.

Disabled people (January to March 2025)

The disability employment rate is 54%.

Employment by nationality (January to March 2025)

  • 86.1% of those employed in the UK are UK nationals, while 6.4% are EU nationals and 7.5% are non-EU nationals. 
  • The employment rate for UK nationals is 74.9%. For non-UK nationals, the employment rate is 76.0% (81.4% for EU nationals, 72.0% for non-EU nationals).