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April 20, 2021UK LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, DECEMBER 2020 TO FEBRUARY 2021 
The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported today that the unemployment rate for the three-month period December 2020 to February 2021 averaged 4.9%, up 0.9 percentage points compared to the same period the previous year.
The UK employment rate among those aged 16-64 averaged 75.1% from December 2020 to February 2021, down 1.4 percentage points than a year earlier. Estimates for December 2020 to February 2021 indicate that the number of payroll employees declined 643,000 compared to the same period the previous year. In March 2021, the number of payroll employees decreased by 56,000 compared to February 2021.
Economic inactivity rate among those aged 16-64 averaged 20.9% from December 2020 to February 2021, up 0.7 percentage points than a year earlier. The number of job vacancies decreased 22.7% in January 2021 to March 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 and March 2021, employment and labour force in Canada started to recover again. In contrast, furloughed workers were considered to be employed in the UK, which muted the impact of COVID-19 on UK employment and labour force. In recent months the UK, Canada, and Nova Scotia labour force and employment have similar trend.
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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