Interactive map lays bare Britain’s unemployment crisis with 1.7MILLION adults on benefits… is your town on the list?
Interactive map lays bare Britain’s unemployment crisis with 1.7MILLION adults on benefits… is your town on the list?
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NEW data has laid bare Britain's unemployment crisis - with 1.74 million adults currently on benefits. Using figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Sun has compiled maps showing the worst hit areas - with the number of claimants gone up by 182,000 in 12 months.
![[People walking past a Jobcentre Plus in London.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2024-britains-unemployment-rate-remained-958100592.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The stats, published this week but showing standings from December last year, are also 700 more than the month before. And while employment levels increased year on year, the employment rate fell slightly, according to separate analysis. The report adds that 9.3 million people aged 16-64 were "economically inactive", while job vacancies remain "above pre-pandemic levels".
The overall claimant count is also 514,000 above the count of 1.23 million in March 2020, before the Covid pandemic took effect on the labour market. However, the Department for Work and Pensions made changes to the criteria for claiming Universal Credit in May 2024, and the ONS reported this is "likely to increase the claimant count over a six month period".
England's unemployment count is 1.5million, while there are 66,025 out of work in Wales, 107,417 in Scotland and 39,375 in Northern Ireland. The region with the highest number of benefit claimants outside of London (357,490) is the North West (208,285).
