The Government has wasted no time in setting its agenda into action. Since December, we’ve been funding initiatives up and down the country to level up infrastructure and public services.
Just last week, the Government:
- Gave the green light to HS2, connecting the North and Midlands with London via a high-speed rail line
- Confirmed the Local Government Finance settlement, giving local authorities a 4.4% real terms increase in funding
As we embark on a bright future outside the EU, we are delivering on people’s priorities and helping families with the cost of living through lower taxes, higher wages and more well-paid jobs – including by giving the National Living Wage its largest cash boost ever from this April.
Key statistics:
- Wages: Average weekly earnings for employees increased by 3.2 per cent compared with a year earlier – growing by 1.8 per cent after adjusting for inflation, – meaning they are at their highest level since before the financial crisis.
- Employment: A record high of 32.93 million (up 336,000 over the last year and up by 3.89 million since 2010).
- Unemployment: 1.29 million (down 73,000 over the past year and down by 1.22 million since 2010).
- Unemployment rate: 3.8 per cent – its lowest since 1974 (down 0.2 points over the past year and down 4.2 points since 2010).
- Youth unemployment: There are 458,000 fewer young people out of work since 2010 – almost halving since 2010.
- Women in work: A record high of 15.61 million (up 298,000 over the last year and 1.98 million since 2010).
- Female employment rate: A record high of 72.4 per cent (up 1.0 point over the past year and 6.9 points since 2010).
- Disabled people in work: A record high of 4.22 million (up 354,000 over the last year).
- Ethnic minority employment: A record high of 4.03 million (up 1.29 million since 2010).