Civometry

OBR · Historical official forecasts database

Employment forecasts

2024 Final

33,615,500people

Employment forecasts was 33,615,500 people in 2024, up 0.8% (264,500) from 33,351,000 in 2023.

▲ 0.8% · +264,500 against 2023 (previous period)

  1. OBR count
  2. 2024
  3. published 26 March 2026
  4. Empl
  5. row “Outturn data*”
  6. column “2024”
  7. cell value 33.6155

2024 is the highest figure in the published series: 33,615,500. Rule: highest of the 16 periods published here (2009 to 2024).

2009 to 2024

Employment forecasts: 2009 to 2024LabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour010m20m30m2010201520202009: 29,156,000 people · published 26 March 20262010: 29,228,500 people · published 26 March 20262011: 29,381,000 people · published 26 March 20262012: 29,723,000 people · published 26 March 20262013: 30,096,750 people · published 26 March 20262014: 30,818,250 people · published 26 March 20262015: 31,345,750 people · published 26 March 20262016: 31,810,250 people · published 26 March 20262017: 32,127,750 people · published 26 March 20262018: 32,506,750 people · published 26 March 20262019: 32,923,000 people · published 26 March 20262020: 32,558,750 people · published 26 March 20262021: 32,555,000 people · published 26 March 20262022: 32,957,250 people · published 26 March 20262023: 33,351,000 people · published 26 March 20262024: 33,615,500 people · published 26 March 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

Employment averaged over each calendar year: the outturn as the OBR last knew it, with every official forecast for the same year. The OBR publishes millions; the figure is stored as people.

What this doesn’t measure

The employment rate, hours worked, or employees only.

Important caveat

Each forecast vintage uses the definitions and classifications in force when it was made, so the outturn the OBR shows beside it may differ from today's ONS series after later classification changes and revisions. The outturn row is the figure as the OBR knew it at its most recent forecast, not the latest ONS estimate. Forecasts before June 2010 were produced by HM Treasury, not the OBR. Fiscal series are financial years; economy series are calendar years. A forecast is a statement of uncertainty made at the time and is stored as an estimate; a miss is not evidence of misconduct.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
OBR
Publication
Historical official forecasts database
Release
Historical official forecasts database, March 2026, published 26 March 2026
Source file
obr-historical-forecasts-2026-03.xlsx
File SHA-256
e00b17cb7ec8dfddc4bfd4d212c1e93362147fff81d74a10480e599b26e634db
Retrieved
3 September 2026
Sheet
Empl
Table
Empl
Row
Outturn data*
Column
2024
Cell value
33.6155 (× 1,000,000 = 33,615,500 people)
Geography
United Kingdom
Unit
people
API
/api/metrics/obr_forecast_employment · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Conservative 2019–202432,506,750201833,351,0002023↑ 2.6%
Conservative 2017–201931,810,250201632,506,7502018↑ 2.2%
Conservative 2015–201730,818,250201431,810,2502016↑ 3.2%
Coalition 2010–201529,156,000200930,818,2502014↑ 5.7%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Historical official forecasts database, March 2026 · publication page
Last updated
26 March 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)