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March 23, 2021UK LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, NOVEMBER 2020 TO JANUARY 2021 
The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported today that the unemployment rate for the three-month period November 2020 to January 2021 averaged 5.0%, up 1.1 percentage points compared to the same period the previous year.
The UK employment rate among those aged 16-64 averaged 75.0% from November 2020 to January 2021, down 1.5 percentage points than a year earlier. Early estimates for February 2021 indicate that the number of payroll employees declined 693,000 compared to February 2020. In February 2021, the number of payroll employees increased by 68,000 compared to January 2021, the third consecutive monthly increase.
Economic inactivity rate among those aged 16-64 averaged 21.0% from November 2020 to January 2021, up 0.6 percentage points than a year earlier. The number of job vacancies decreased 26.8% in December 2020 to February 2021 compared to the same period a year earlier.
The impact of COVID-19 was more apparent in falling employment and labour force in Canada and Nova Scotia for April 2020 and partial recovery from May to November 2020. In December 2020 and January 2021 employment and labour force decreased in Canada on renewed COVID-19 restrictions. In February 2021, employment and labour force in Canada started to recover again. In contrast, furloughed workers are still considered to be employed in the UK, which mutes the impact of COVID-19 on UK employment and labour force.
Sources: UK Office for National Statistics: Labour Market Overview
Statistics Canada Table 14-10-0287-02 Labour force characteristics by age group, monthly, seasonally adjusted
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