---
title: "A real crisis looms as unemployment keeps rising"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/276117085.md"
description: "UK unemployment has risen to 5.2%, the highest non-Covid level since 2015, nearing the Covid peak of 5.3%. In 2025, the number of payrolled employees decreased by approximately 120,000, with an additional drop of over 10,000 in January. The UK labour market's flexibility and resilience remains a significant economic achievement since the 1980s."
datetime: "2026-02-17T11:31:16.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/276117085.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276117085.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/276117085.md)
---

# A real crisis looms as unemployment keeps rising

UK unemployment is up again, now to 5.2 per cent, its highest non-Covid level since 2015 and just short of the Covid peak (5.3 per cent). Over 2025, the number of payrolled employees fell by around 120,000, and by over 10,000 more in January. The UK labour market’s flexibility and resilience has been the one big economic gain from the 1980s that ha...

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