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Unemployment rate in the UK since 1760 (Bank of England)

Unemployment rate in the UK from 1760 from the Bank of England’s millennium dataset.

4.9%United Kingdom · 2016

Bank of England – A millennium of macroeconomic data for the UK (v3.1)Published by source: 2024-09-26
labour market
Saved data version: retrieved 2026-11-05, ID c49339505e42Warehouse version at build: v45
Data coverage
  • United Kingdom: 1760–2016; observations: 257; missing years: 0

Missing years are counted between the first and last observations. A missing value is not zero.

United Kingdom

257 rows for United Kingdom

Time range:
0.05.010.015.020.01760180018501900195020004.9
Year

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United Kingdom

Period statistics

Calculated from the values shown in this view for the selected period. Statistics follow the active display mode.

United Kingdom

3.6→4.9

Total change
+1.3 pp
Period
1760–2016

United Kingdom: 3.6 (1760) → 4.9 (2016). Difference: +1.3 pp. Peak value of 15.4 in 1932; lowest value of 0.3 in 1944.

Compare on chart

Format:
Unemployment rate in the UK since 1760 (Bank of England) — United Kingdom
YearCountryValue
2016United Kingdom4.9%
2015United Kingdom5.4%
2014United Kingdom6.2%
2013United Kingdom7.6%
2012United Kingdom8%
2011United Kingdom8.1%
2010United Kingdom7.9%
2009United Kingdom7.6%
2008United Kingdom5.7%
2007United Kingdom5.3%
2006United Kingdom5.4%
2005United Kingdom4.8%
2004United Kingdom4.8%
2003United Kingdom5%
2002United Kingdom5.2%
2001United Kingdom5.1%
2000United Kingdom5.5%
1999United Kingdom6%
1998United Kingdom6.3%
1997United Kingdom7%
Source
Bank of England – A millennium of macroeconomic data for the UK (v3.1)
Licence
Bank of England terms (free reuse with attribution)
Published by source
2024-09-26
Retrieved
2026-11-05
Indicator code in source
unemployment
Unit of measure
percent
Data version
v45

Cite

Longseries, “Unemployment rate in the UK since 1760 (Bank of England)”. Bank of England – A millennium of macroeconomic data for the UK (v3.1) (unemployment), 1760–2016, United Kingdom. Thomas, Ryland and Nicholas Dimsdale (2017), “A millennium of macroeconomic data for the UK”, v3.1, Bank of England. Retrieved 2026-11-05. Bank of England terms (free reuse with attribution). Data version v45. Data SHA-256: c49339505e4286361cb4c3f75a950300f132b4038cf11a2b9433890eb4cddb3c. https://longseries.com/en/d/boe-unemployment/

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Latest values

1 place — sorted by value, highest first
Country
United Kingdom20164.9%4.9%

About this series

A millennium of macroeconomic data for the UK, Bank of England, v3.1 (Thomas and Dimsdale, 2017), sheet “A1. Headline series”. Share of the labour force without work and seeking it, in %. The file is no longer updated: last published in 2017, data to 2016.

Indicator definition

Share of the labour force without a job and looking for one, in %. There was no official measure before the 20th century; earlier figures are estimates from partial records.

How to read the data

Before the 20th century the values are rough, so use them for scale. The 1930s and early 1980s stand out as high points, and the long low period after the Second World War is clear.

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