The number of people classed as inactive - neither in work nor looking for it - rose by 252,000 from the three months to May.
This marked the biggest such increase since records began in 1971, the Office for National Statistics said. The Bank of England, which is also trying to stem financial market turmoil triggered by new Prime Minister Liz Truss's economic programme, is worried that Britain's shrinking labour market will add to inflation pressures.
The ONS said there had been a spike in employment and a fall in inactivity in the three months to May which might, at least in part, explain some of the change in the three months to August. The 0.6 percentage points increase in the inactivity rate to 21.7% in the June-August period was the biggest on record alongside the increase in the March-May period of 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe, the ONS said.The number of people in employment fell by 109,000 in the June-August period, less than a median forecast for a 155,000 drop in the Reuters poll.
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