The overall unemployment rate in the United Kingdom was 3.9 percent in May 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is the lowest level in 40 years. However, this is explained in part by the rise of zero-hour contracts, which have more than doubled in the previous decade, reaching 896,000 in 2019.
The expansion of the economy is concentrated in London and the southeast, whereas unemployment is greater in the north of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The London employment market is thriving, with ten times more jobs available than the next greatest region in the nation, but there is far more competition for those positions.
According to the 2018 ONS Business Register and Employment Survey, the largest industries in the UK in terms of employee numbers are:
Healthcare and social work administration education scientific and technological manufacturing hospitality Job Centre Plus location
In terms of market share in 2020, the following firms are the biggest in the United Kingdom:
The company Unilever (consumer goods)
AstraZeneca Inc. (pharmaceutical)
Shell Royal Dutch Shell (oil and gas)
BHP (mining)
Rio Tinto Inc. (mining)
GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) (pharmaceutical)
HSBC (finance)
However, public sector institutions are the largest employers in the UK, with the NHS, British Army, and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employing the most people in 2018.